Hyperactivity and other behavioral problems of children and adolescents are being studied lately to try to know some of the causes that could cause them.
A study conducted in Canada with families that have between one and three children wanted to see what influence the fact of having or not having siblings has on children and also to know how the gender of siblings affects the general behavior of children.
There are many conclusions that have been drawn. The most important, or at least the ones that are most stressed when talking about this study are those that say that only children are more likely to be hyperactive than those who have siblings and that these precisely, those who are not alone, tend to be more aggressive. The research was conducted between 1994 and 1995 on a total of 9,400 children, of which 8% of them were only children.
Unique children are more hyperactive
According to the study authors, when a marriage has only one child, they behave in a less authoritarian way that makes the only children have a more flexible and active behavior. In this way they get to have hyperactive behaviors: they move a lot, have a hard time concentrating, are impulsive and do not listen to the indications of the elderly.
I personally do not buy this theory, because the only children, because they do not have siblings, tend to play quieter and tend to spend more time with an activity than if there are other children around playing other things.
Those who have brothers are more aggressive
In the families with two children aggression is greater. It has been seen that when a child has a younger brother, whether a boy or a girl, he is more aggressive and hits other children more than when children do not have siblings.
If we focus on the second brothers, that is, the one that comes when there is already a child at home, it seems that they tend to be more violent with objects (something that has happened in my house, because the second is a true expert in throwing things when angry).
Different combinations, different problems
In families where there are two children, the younger brother seems to have more hyperactive behaviors, while the older one is more introverted, experiencing anxiety, restlessness and sadness. In families where there is an only child or an only child or there is a boy and a girl (being the oldest child) there seems to be increased risk of complications due to hyperactivity, and more violence against objects by the little sister.
When a mother has only one child, it has been proven that they interact with each other in a more positive and less hostile way than mothers who have more children. They also show a tendency to congratulate, play and share more time than they devote to correcting inappropriate behaviors, probably because spending a lot of time with them there is not so much to correct.
On the other side of the scale are mothers who have three children who are girl-girl-boy, who have the least positive interactions and mothers who have two boys, who have the most negative interactions (I this , although I have two sons, I do not subscribe).
The one that seems to be the most balanced family combination is one in which there are three children, the first and the third being boys and the second a girl. The family being less aggressive is formed by marriage and an only daughter.
Summarizing
There is not much to make a conclusion, because while this study says that the best combinations are those of three children (boy-girl-boy) or that of a single only daughter, another that we commented a few months ago said that the happiest family was the one in which the couple had two girls.
From this it is extracted (at least it is what I extract) that the most direct environment has a lot to do with the behavior of children and also with the behavior of parents, that we are different when we have one or more children and we also behave differently depending on whether we have children of one gender or another.
I confess that I find it interesting to try to find logic to these behaviors between siblings, such as, to conclude that if the first daughter is a girl and the second is a boy, he feels more protected because girls tend to play a role of caregivers like the mother, although it will depend on the age difference, or similar things. However, from this study that I comment I extract little, because I do not see much of any of the statements and because, as I say, previous studies say other things.
