There’s a link between having siblings and mental health? According to a study carried out in the United States and China, not only is it there, but it would also be negative. What amazed the researchers is that they arrived at the same results in two such different countries. The psychological well-being of adolescents with multiple siblings is Indeed worse than that of adolescents who are only children. You can read the results in the scientific journal Journal of Family Issues.
The link between having siblings and mental health confirmed in both the United States and China
The researchers were amazed by the results of the research. On the one hand because of what was said about the substantial differences of the two countries, on the other because Previous studies claimed exactly the opposite.
The working group analyzed data from more than 9,400 students China Education Panel Study who attended what we consider eighth grade and 9,100 of their American peers‘Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort. In both cases, these are studies that collect information on the health of Chinese adolescents in the first case and of American adolescents in the second.
Until a few years ago, China followed the one-child policy. Consequently well 34% of Chinese children had no siblings, compared to 12.6% of North Americans.
Why is the link between having siblings and mental health negative?
As for China, teenagers who had better mental health were those raised as only children. In the United States, only children or those who had at most one brother or sister.
Those who are worse off are those who have older brothers or sisters with little age difference. The worst situation is when the two brothers are one year apart.
The theory of resource dilution
The researchers hypothesize that responsibility must be sought in the so-called resource dilution theory. In practice, if you are an only child, you will have all the emotional and economic attention of your parents and relatives for you. In reverse if there are three or four of us, for example, we will mathematically have less attention of any kindbecause parents have to take care of everything.
This also explains why i brothers or sisters who have a small age difference are the ones who are worse off: they will ask more or less the same things from their parents, entering into competition.
The economic question should not be overlooked either scholars call it economic selectivity. We know that mental health is generally better in families with a well-off socio-economic situation. On average in both China and the United States, the richest families have one or at most two children.