No brothers or sisters? That doesn’t mean you’ll grow up spoiled and lonely | Emma Beddington

It’s time to ditch the stereotypes about only children. The same goes for the cliches about conscientious and controlling eldest siblings

Are only children selfish, spoiled and lonely? Duh, no, a piece in the New Scientist recently concluded, unpicking all these stereotypes.

There are many more only children now: in 2022, 44% of UK families with dependent children had just one child. According to researchers at University College London’s Faculty of Education and Society, they are doing just fine. Rejecting the “outdated preconceptions and stereotypes about only children”, they found “an overall reassuring picture of UK only children’s lives and outcomes”.

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