China’s only children and psychopathology
A quantitative synthesis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9050691 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Toni Falbo (0000-0001-7051-5569), Sophia Y Hooper, Sophia Hooper (0000-0002-9116-7281) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 259-274 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9432 • E-ISSN: 1939-0025 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/ort0000058 |
| PMID | 25894306 |
| PMCID | PMC4465561 |
| OpenAlex | W2329107163 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 10 |
The goal of this study is to synthesize quantitatively the results of studies of psychopathology among Chinese only children. Since 1979, China's 1-child policy has generated large numbers of only children, especially in large urban centers, where the 1-child family has become a social norm. Motivated by concern for mental health, 22 studies, based on the SCL-90, have been published that compare the scores of only children to their peers with siblings. The raw effect sizes generated by each study underwent adjustments to enhance the reliability of the findings, including the identification and replacement of outliers, and weighting by inverse-sample size. In addition, analyses were conducted to evaluate the degree of publication bias exhibited by this collection of studies and the results from the SCL-90 studies were compared to studies using alternative measures of anxiety and depression. Overall, the synthesis found small, but significant advantages for only children compared to their peers with siblings, regardless of subscale. However, moderators of this only-child effect were also found: Only children as college students reported significantly fewer symptoms, regardless of subscale, while only children as military recruits reported more symptoms, although the findings about military recruits received less support from the analyses. Furthermore, the size of the only-child advantage was found to be greater for only children born after the policy. Conclusions based on this synthesis are limited by the fact that this body of studies is based on convenience samples of relatively successful youth
Anxiety · Child psychopathology · Depression (economics) · Mental health · Psychiatry · Psychopathology · Clinical Psychology · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Psychology
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A cross-sectional study of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescent depression
Mediating Effect of Social Support in the Relationship Between Childhood Abuse and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Chinese Undergraduates
Differences in Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Results between Only-Child and Non-Only-Child Children
Variants of social adaptation in Chinese adolescents
Chinese undergraduates’ sources of self-efficacy differ by sibling status, achievement, and fear of failure along two pathways
Chinese only children and loneliness
Development of beliefs in a just world among Chinese early adolescents and the predictive role of family factors
How growing up without siblings affects the adult brain and behaviour in the CHIMGEN cohort
Do Only-Children Communicate Better Than Non-Only Children
Publication Bias in Meta‐Analysis
Fixed- and random-effects models in meta-analysis.
A Nonparametric “Trim and Fill” Method of Accounting for Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis
Trim and Fill
The Impact of Sibling Status on Chinese College Students' Quality of Life
Human Rights and Reproductive Choice
Population, Policy, and Politics
Slaughter of the Innocents
China's One-Child Policy and the Care of Children
| Citations per year | 1.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |