<\/figure>\n<\/p>\nI am an only child. Saying this sometimes feels like a confession \u2013 not least when people respond with a well-meaning \u201coh, you don\u2019t seem like it!\u201d. Now, as the mother of a preschooler, I see my daughter navigating the same assumptions. \u201cDoes she have older siblings?\u201d one teacher asked recently. \u201cShe plays so well with the other kids!\u201d<\/p>\n
If it seems like I am bragging about my (or my daughter\u2019s) behaviour, you will have to excuse me: I am, after all, an only child.<\/p>\n
For over a century, we have been seen as odd, at best; antisocial, neurotic and narcissistic, at worst. \u201cBeing an only child is a disease in itself,\u201d declared 19th-century child psychologist Granville Stanley Hall.<\/p>\n
Whether there are actually any differences between the personalities and well-being of singleton children and those with siblings remains a contentious question \u2013 one given fresh impetus by the growing trend of one-and-done parenting.<\/p>\n
Single-child families have become more common since the 1970s in high-income countries, including the US and UK, whether \u201cby constraint or by choice\u201d, says \u00c9va Beaujouan, a demographer at the University of Vienna, Austria. In Europe, nearly half of all households with children have just one child.<\/p>\n
Despite their growing popularity, one-child families continue to encounter a long-held view that this arrangement is somehow harmful. Fortunately, delving into contemporary research can offer a degree of clarity \u2013 and it hints that being an only child can come with surprising outcomes. The findings may offer some reassurance for one-and-done parents and those still debating how many\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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