By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Heidi Radunovich, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
“Is she (or he) your only?” If you’re the parent of an only child, you’ve probably been asked this question many times–and its tone may occasionally have made you uncomfortable. Although the number of single-child families has nearly doubled since the 1960s, some people still seem to believe that a one-child family is somehow incomplete.
Lonely Onlies?
Even parents may worry at times that their only child could face emotional or social challenges. Yet research hasn’t found many significant disadvantages to being an only child. As a matter of fact, it actually seems that having multiple siblings can negatively affect children’s lifetime educational achievement, even after taking family finances into account.
Kindergarten Concerns
One 2004 study did find that only children were rated by their kindergarten teachers as having more social problems than children with siblings. However, this is a snapshot of one moment in time. These young children were just entering the school environment and hadn’t yet had much time to get used to working and playing with other children. So, how do only children fare years down the road, when they’ve had more opportunity to adapt to the demands of school?
Teens Bounce Back
A 2013 study in the Journal of Family Issues looked at more than 13,000 teens in grades 7 though 12 to see whether only children were as socially well-liked as children with siblings. After analyzing the data, researchers concluded that teens who were only children appeared to be just as popular with their peers as teens who had siblings. These findings suggest that even if only children do start school at a slight social disadvantage, they may make up for it over the years.
The authors are quick to point out that there are likely to be other benefits to having siblings that were not measured in the study. Also, this study relied on other students to assess social status; adults might have had a different view of the teens’ social skills. However, these findings may be somewhat reassuring to parents of only children as they watch their sons and daughters negotiate school and friendships through the years.
References:
Bobbit-Zehrer, D., & Downey, D. B. (2013). Number of siblings and friendship nominations among adolescents. Journal of Family Issues, 34(9), 1175-1193. doi: 10.1177/0192513X12470370
Downey, D. B., & Condron, D. J. (2004). Playing well with others in kindergarten: The benefits of siblings at home. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 333-350.
Photo Credits: Thinkstock/Stockbyte/Thinkstock
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