Hello curious13
Thank-you for the interesting question about success and only
children.
RESEARCH
========
There is one psychologist in particular whose work suggests higher
levels of achievement in only children: Toni Falbo. Her work is often
quoted to support this view. This is about a study she co-published
with Denise Polit:
"Falbo and Polit (1986) conducted six meta-analyses of studies that
had been done with children in order to examine the only child.
[..................]
A better relationship with parents and a better developmental outcome
were also found to be traits of only children. The areas of
achievement, intelligence and character for only borns were above
their peers who had siblings."
This refers to:
Falbo, T. & Polit, D. (1986). Quantitative review of the only child
literature: Research evidence and theory development. Psychological
Bulletin, 100, 179-189.
You should be able to find their article through a library; you could
also contact the Psychological Bulletin itself at:
http://www.apa.org/journals/
quote from:
Being an Only Child: Recent Research
summarized at Hope College
http://www.hope.edu/academic/psychology/335/webrep2/onlychld.html
Falbo's work is one of the sources for a paper published by the ERIC
Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the
University of Illinois:
" Achievement
As is the case for intelligence, achievement (both academic and other
kinds) in only and first-born children appears to be slightly greater
than for later-born children. To explain this phenomenon, theorists
have considered the specific relationship between parents and
children. Presumably, achievement motivation originates in the high
standards for mature behavior that parents impose on their only and
first-born children. "
The Only Child
Author: Karen Steiner
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/only.child.html
Karen Steiner cites these works by Falbo as sources for her paper:
Falbo, Toni. THE ONE CHILD FAMILY IN PERSPECTIVE. Ann Arbor, MI: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Counseling and Personnel Services, 1983a. ED 236 504.
Falbo, Toni. "The Only Child in America." In SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS:
THEIR NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE, edited by M. E. Lamb and B.
Sutton-Smith. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1983b.
Details for acquiring Steiner's paper:
Title: The Only Child. ERIC Digest.
Note: Document printed on colored paper.
Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis
Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected)
in Full Text (073);
Available From: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood
Education, University of Illinois, 805 West Pennsylvania Avenue,
Urbana, IL 61801 (no charge).
Descriptors: Birth Order, Comparative Analysis, Family Size, Siblings,
Social Change, Social Influences
Identifiers: ERIC Digests, Only Children
Falbo has also conducted research in China where she found higher
achievement correlated with being an only child. There isn't a great
deal about this online, just brief references and discussion about
whether it is applicable in other cultures.
"The "high-achieving, motivated, and successful" only children of the
study are part of a Chinese community that puts different stress on
success and education than our own. "
from Google-stored version of articles at the PersonalityResearch.org
site:
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:keJGbaWp56wC:www.personalityresearch.org/papers/eischens2.html+%22+only+children+OR+child%22+success+OR+successful+OR+%22high+achieving++%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
The papers she has published on only children in China are cited at
the end of this answer.
NEWS STORIES
============
There are quite a few media stories referring to Falbo's research, or
at least saying the same thing.
"On the whole, they [only children] appear to have some advantages
when it comes to intelligence and school and career achievement. "
Parent Library: The Only Child, by Lilian G. Katz
http://npin.org/library/pre1998/n00210/n00210.html
-
"'Studies show that only children often have higher achievement
levels,'said psychologist Jane Annunziata."
Benefits and drawbacks to raising an only child
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/07/only.child/
-
"According to this recent research [BY Toni Falbo and Denise Polit,
University of Texas researchers], only children score marks equal to
firstborns in intelligence and achievement and as a class of people we
score higher than firstborns and later borns when the tests measure
leadership ability and maturity."
ONLY CHILDREN ARE PEOPLE TOO, by Norman Bales
http://www.allaboutfamilies.org/fm3.html
-
"Achievement
Both academic and other kinds of achievement in only and first-born
children appear to be slightly greater than for later-born children."
ONLY CHILDREN, story by Shelagh Witby from Your Baby magazine
http://www.women24.com/W24/Display/w24Article/0,7173,1-9-11_2757,00.html
-
"Falbo et al. (as cited in Boer and Dunn, 1992) conducted a Beijing
survey and found that only children scored better on their
school-based achievement tests than their non-only counterparts."
The Only Child
http://www.nckcn.com/homepage/cookjt/onlychild.htm
-
Falbo, a psychologist known for work in the area of birth order,
indicates that Chinese only children fared no worse in personality or
achievement than their counterparts with siblings. She found that only
children were high-achieving, motivated and successful.
One and only is not lonely
http://www.darlingsindiapers.com/affiliates/oneandonly_iaw.htm
FALBO'S WORK
============
Falbo's full resumé, including all her publications, is available at
the University of Texas website:
http://www.prc.utexas.edu/profiles/docs/falbo_t.cv.pdf
The studies that will probably interest you most:
Falbo, Toni. THE ONE CHILD FAMILY IN PERSPECTIVE. Ann Arbor, MI: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Counseling and Personnel Services, 1983a. ED 236 504.
Falbo, Toni. "The Only Child in America." In SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS:
THEIR NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE, edited by M. E. Lamb and B.
Sutton-Smith. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1983b.
Falbo, T., Poston, D.L., Jr., Xie, Z. (Eds.) (1997). Zhongguo Dusheng
Zinu Yanjiu.
{Research on Single Children in China} Shanghai: East China Normal
University Press.
Falbo, T. (1984). The Single Child Family. New York: Guilford Press.
Poston, D.L. & Falbo, T. (1990) Scholastic and personality
characteristics of only children and children with siblings in China.
International Family Planning Perspectives, 16, 45-48.
Polit, D. & Falbo, T. (1988) The intellectual outcomes of only
children.
Journal of Biosocial Science, 20 , 275-286.
Falbo, T. & Polit, D. (1986). Quantitative review of the only child
literature: Research evidence and theory development.
Psychological Bulletin, 100, 179-189.
FURTHER INFORMATION
You might also be interested in this:
"In two related studies, researchers found that only children - and
to a certain extent first-born children - were more interested in
intellectual, cognitive pursuits than were later-born children."
This is from a study comparing intellectual interests in only (and
firstborn) children with artistic interests in subsequent siblings,
conducted by Frederick T.L. Leong, co-author of the study and
professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
"Leong conducted the study with Paul Hartung of the Northeastern Ohio
Universities College of Medicine; David Goh of Queens College, City
University of New York; and Michael Gaylor of the Dartmouth Medical
School. Their results were published in a recent issue of the Journal
of Career Assessment."
Research News from Ohio State
http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/researchnews/archive/birthwrk.htm
I hope this is helpful. Please get back to me if anything needs
further clarification, or if any links fail to work, and I'll do my
best to assist.
Regards - Leli
search strategy:
combinations of:
only child, only children
success, successful, achievement, high-achieving
research, study, studies
also: Falbo |
