7 Surprising Ways Birth Order Affects Us

7 – Only children have higher life satisfaction.

So we’ve seen the effect birth order has on children, but what about those who are the only child their partners have? Does this affect them at all? Shao, Yao, Li and Huang (2013) looked at this topic, and found that those who were only children experienced higher life satisfaction than those who had siblings. This study was conducted in China, and so we should be mindful of cultural differences that may explain the finding, but that aside it probably makes sense that if parents only have one child, they can put more time and resources into that child and thus they will have a higher life satisfaction.

So what do you think? A load of rubbish, or a genuine thing? Do the relationships discussed here reflect people you know in real life? Let us know in the comments, and let us know what your birth order is and which of the traits fit you!

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Edited by: Holley McLane