The Only Kids Are Alright

Only children are much maligned, yet triangle families are on the rise…

(1) National data from the Pew Research Center and (2) from the article “Americans are having fewer kids” via the New York Times. Data about (3) Seattle and (4) NYC via The Seattle Times and NY Magazine. The term “triangle family” was introduced to me in a Facebook group for families with one kid.

(5) Research by Polit and Falbo can be found here. And the original quote from psychologist Kenneth Terhune is “more maligned than maladjusted,” as reported by Lauren Sandler in “One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One.”

(6) Additional recent research by Falbo: Only Children: an updated review.

(7) Read this paper for a more in-depth treatment of “peculiar and exceptional children.” Spoiler alert: basically all children could be categorized as “peculiar and exceptional.”

P.S. Any only children want to share anecdotes about whether this is the case?

(8) A study of parental happiness. (9) Data via Lauren Sandler’s One & Only: The freedom of having an only child and the joy of being one. Sandler describes a study of 35,000 Danish twins, conducted by Hans-Peter Kohler and Jere Berman. Women with one child were more satisfied with their lives than none or more than one kid. (10) An interesting article about “resisting the temptation and pressure to have more children.”

(11) Via a 2003 study by Twenge, Campbell, and Foster.

Side note: You’re doing a great job, mamas! And you, too, dads!

(12) Data via the Pew Research Center.

(13) Quoted in Lauren Sandler’s One And Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One. Data from Frank Stafford, from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Quote via Lauren Sandler’s book, One And Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One.

(14) Thank you, anonymous Facebook parents of only children, for sharing your insights and experiences!

Previously:

How to Get Pregnant in 2050