How does growing without siblings affect your kid’s development?
Researchers have discovered that growing up without siblings may have an impact on the brain structure of kids.
Only children are often considered to be selfish and spoiled. However, a new study made by the Southwest University in Chongqing, China, observed that growing up without a brother or sister may affect more than just behaviour.
Previous studies have focused on the contrast in conduct, cognitive function and personality traits between those with and without siblings. This one wanted to find out whether the difference stems from a neural basis – and they do, according to the Independent.
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For the study, 250 university students, half of them being only children, had their brains scanned and were tested for their personality, creativity and intelligence. The scans showed that the parts of the brain associated with the development of creativity and a pleasant personality were structurally different. The test showed that only children did better than those with sibling regarding creativity but scored lower when it came to “agreeable” personality traits, such as dependency, selphishness and social ineptitude.
The only children who performed higher on creativity displayed a higher volume of gray matter in the parietal lobe, which is associated with flexibility and imagination, while the only children whose traits are less agreeable exhibited less gray matter in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for thinking about the self in relation to other people.
The research ultimately confirms that different family environments alter the structural brain development of children.
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