Difference Between Only Children & Children With Siblings

Social Skills

• Children with siblings are more likely to show signs of further developed social skills when entering kindergarten, since they are already used to interacting with peers of a similar age. Siblings experience conflict and figure out ways to resolve it on their own, preparing them for interactions with other students. The social advantages of having siblings, however, have been shown to level out as the individual gets older, since other social activities like sports and clubs allow only children to develop their social skills.

Cognitive Development

• Studies have suggested that only children are more likely to have greater cognitive skills at an early age. It is believed that these results occur from the only child receiving a more intense concentration of the parents' resources. For example, an only child may get read to more often or receive more books because he does not have to share his parents' time or gifts with siblings. Parents may also be more likely to push an only child to achieve favorable results.

Selfishness

• It is widely believed that only children tend to be more spoiled and selfish than those with siblings, although research has contradicted this claim. Alfred Adler theorized that only children are more likely to be selfish since they have no rivals for their parents' affection. Nonetheless, by the 1980s, this idea was largely dismissed by further study.

Lonliness

• It is a largely suggested notion that only children tend to be lonelier without siblings to interact with. This is more apparent in circumstances in which the parents are generally absent. In many cases, however, the only child tends to interact with his parents more, and may even feel more comfortable socializing with adults than children with siblings. Most only children eventually overcome any social gaps as they progress in school.