Are only children all right? A cross-cohort analysis on the well-being of only children in the UK

独生子女就可以吗？

• 批准号: ES/S002103/1
• 负责人: Alice Goisis
• 金额: $ 30.99万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FS002103%2F1
• 关键词: only; children; right; cross; cohort

One child families are becoming more common in many advanced societies, including the UK. 18% of U.K. women who were born around 1970 had only one child, in contrast to 13% who were born around 1945 (i.e. their mothers' generation). Previous research suggests that despite strong negative stereotypes of only children (which characterize them as spoiled, overprotected and lonely due to lack of siblings), on average, only children do as well as children with few siblings and better than children from large families. However, existing evidence largely comes from U.S. research conducted during or before the 1980s and it is unclear whether it applies to current or past patterns in the U.K. since the context in which only child families are formed and their characteristics may vary over time and space. Moreover, very little is known about the longer-term well-being of only children and whether growing up without siblings may affect their life chances and well-being in older ages. To address these gaps in knowledge, I propose an innovative programme of research to study the effects of being an only child in childhood and adulthood in the UK. The project uses data from four UK longitudinal datasets: the 1946 National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS), the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS) and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) which follows a group of children born in 2000-2002. These are large surveys which follow the lives the cohort members from birth onwards. The project has four main objectives: 1) to analyse the socio-demographic characteristics of only children families and whether and how they have changed over time; 2) to compare the well-being (e.g. cognitive) of only children relative to the well-being of children growing up with siblings over time; 3) using data from the 1946, 1958 and 1970 cohort studies to analyse the social/demographic characteristics (e.g. education, fertility, partnership trajectories) and health of only children over the life course; 4) using data from the 1946 and 1958 cohort studies to analyse the well-being (e.g. health, social support, loneliness) of only children in older age. The proposed project will be undertaken at the Institute for Social and Economics Research (ISER) at the University of Essex under the mentorship of the director of ISER Prof. Emily Grundy. ISER, a centre of excellence in the production and analysis of longitudinal studies, will provide excellent research support given its strong team of demographers, epidemiologists, statisticians and economists. An advisory board has been set up which includes representation from academic and non-academic members: the UK Ministry of Justice, the Children's Society, the National Children's Bureau and CLOSER (based at UCL). The advisory board will be involved throughout the process by providing input into the research and by promoting the dissemination and impact of the project's findings. The project will produce at least four academic papers which will be submitted to and published in leading demography/sociology/public health journals, presentation of the project's findings at eight academic conferences, and other dissemination activities such as producing press releases to be sent to high quality media and disseminating the project's findings through social media. This is the first comprehensive project on the well-being of only children in the U.K. and it has the potential to make a significant contribution not only to the scientific literature but also to society as its findings will be immediately relevant to third sector organizations working with children and adults, government departments designing policies to improve the lives of troubled children and of older people at risk of loneliness and only children families themselves. The project will also enable the principal investigator to transition to full independent investigator status.

独生子女家庭在包括英国在内的许多发达社会越来越普遍。英国的18% 1970年前后出生的妇女只有一个孩子，而1945年前后出生的妇女（即她们的母亲一代）只有13%。先前的研究表明，尽管对独生子女有强烈的负面刻板印象（这些刻板印象将他们描述为被宠坏的，过度保护的和孤独的，因为缺乏兄弟姐妹），平均而言，独生子女做得和兄弟姐妹很少的孩子一样好，而且比大家庭的孩子更好。然而，现有的证据主要来自美国在20世纪80年代或之前进行的研究，目前还不清楚它是否适用于英国当前或过去的模式。因为独生子女家庭形成的背景及其特点可能随时间和空间而变化。此外，人们对独生子女的长期福祉以及没有兄弟姐妹的成长是否会影响他们晚年的生活机会和福祉知之甚少。为了解决这些知识的差距，我提出了一个创新的研究计划，以研究在英国的童年和成年的独生子女的影响。该项目使用了四个英国纵向数据集的数据：1946年全国健康与发展调查（NSHD），1958年全国儿童发展研究（NCDS），1970年英国队列研究（BCS）和千年队列研究（MCS），该研究跟踪了2000-2002年出生的一组儿童。这些大型调查从出生开始就跟踪队列成员的生活。该项目有四个主要目标：1）分析独生子女家庭的社会人口特征，以及这些特征是否和如何随着时间的推移而发生变化; 2）比较（如认知）独生子女相对于与兄弟姐妹一起长大的儿童的幸福感; 3）使用1946年、1958年和1970年队列研究的数据分析社会/人口特征（如教育、生育率、伴侣关系轨迹）和独生子女一生的健康状况;（4）利用1946年和1958年队列研究的数据分析独生子女在老年时的幸福感（如健康、社会支持、孤独感）。拟议的项目将在埃塞克斯大学社会和经济研究所（ISER）进行，由ISER主任艾米丽格伦迪教授指导。ISER是纵向研究制作和分析的卓越中心，凭借其强大的人口学家、流行病学家、统计学家和经济学家团队，将提供出色的研究支持。成立了一个咨询委员会，其中包括来自学术和非学术成员的代表：联合王国司法部、儿童协会、国家儿童局和CLOSER（总部设在伦敦大学学院）。咨询委员会将参与整个过程，为研究提供投入，并促进项目研究结果的传播和影响。该项目将编写至少四篇学术论文，提交给主要的人口学/社会学/公共卫生期刊并在其上发表，在八次学术会议上介绍项目的研究结果，并开展其他传播活动，如编写新闻稿发送给高质量媒体，并通过社交媒体传播项目的研究结果。这是英国第一个关于独生子女福利的综合项目。它不仅有可能对科学文献作出重大贡献，而且也有可能对社会作出重大贡献，因为它的研究结果将与从事儿童和成人工作的第三部门组织、制定政策以改善问题儿童和面临孤独风险的老年人生活的政府部门以及独生子女家庭本身直接相关。该项目还将使主要调查员能够过渡到完全独立的调查员地位。

项目成果

Only children and cognitive ability in childhood: a cross-cohort analysis over 50 years in the UK

独生子女与童年时期的认知能力：英国 50 年来的跨队列分析

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Goisis A

Patterns of help and care by adult only children and children with siblings

成人独生子女和有兄弟姐妹的儿童的帮助和照顾模式

• DOI: 10.1017/s0144686x22000198
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Ageing and Society
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Chanfreau J

Health outcomes of only children across the life course: An investigation using Swedish register data

• DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2021.2020886
• 发表时间: 2020-01
• 期刊: Population Studies
• 作者: K. Keenan;Kieron J Barclay;A. Goisis

Sibling group size and BMI over the life course: Evidence from four British cohort studies

• DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100493
• 发表时间: 2022-09-01
• 期刊: ADVANCES IN LIFE COURSE RESEARCH
• 影响因子: 3.4
• 作者: Chanfreau，Jenny;Barclay，Kieron;Goisis，Alice
• 通讯作者: Goisis，Alice

Defining and Identifying Only Children

独生子女的定义和识别

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Chanfreau J