This stereotype about only children has been proven true
<p>It’s often claimed that children who grow up without siblings, raised as the sole focus of their doting parents, are more selfish than their multi-sibling counterparts. And while most only children would vehemently deny this claim, unfortunately, it seems there may be some truth to it.</p>
<p>Scientists from Southwest University in Chongqing, China, have found a significant difference in the brains of only children and kids with siblings. MRI scans show that children brought up without brothers and sisters have less grey matter in the part of the brain related to agreeableness, making them more selfish, less empathetic and harder to get along with.</p>
<p>The study, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11682-016-9530-9?wt_mc=alerts.TOCjournals" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">published in the journal <em>Brain Imaging and Behaviour</em></span></strong></a>, examined 250 university students, half of whom had siblings and half who did not.</p>
<p>“Due to the absence of siblings, only children usually miss out on important opportunities to rehearse some of the more complicated aspects of relationships within a safe environment and also miss many opportunities to develop psychosocial skills, emotional support and learning opportunities compared with non-only-children,” researchers explained, adding that extra parental (and grandparental) attention may “cause undesirable personality traits in the children, such as dependency, selfishness and social ineptitude”.</p>
<p>However, it’s not all bad news. While agreeableness was indeed lower in only children, they were also found to be more creative than children with siblings. The study’s authors believe this may be due to a number of factors, including greater expectations placed on only children as well as having to learn how to act independently.</p>
<p>“Many studies have proven that expectations have a strong influence on cognitive performance, including instance creativity,” researchers reveal. “Additionally, only children might have more opportunities for independent activity, and independence is strongly related to creative thinking.”</p>
<p>What do you think about the scientists’ conclusions? Have you found this stereotype to be true? Let us know in the comments below!</p>
