Wonder what leads to social awkwardness in those adolescent years? There are so many things that can lower confidence and self esteem in the vulnerable adolescent period; physical clumsiness, personality (whether extrovert or introvert), braces, glasses, acne, intelligence, weight and the list goes on.
It appears that adolescents without siblings suffer no disadvantage when it comes to social skills, as a new study conducted by Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, Assistant Professor of Sociology, and Douglas Downey, Professor of Sociology, both at Ohio State Univeristy Marion campus, reveals.
“The concern that a lack of siblings might hurt children’s social skills has become more significant in recent years.” [However,] “I don’t think anyone has to be concerned that if you don’t have siblings, you won’t learn the social skills you need to get along with other students in high school,” said Bobbitt-Zeher.
In a 2004 study by Downey, it was reported that children without siblings showed poorer social skills in kindergarten compared with those who had at least one sibling. Focus of the new study was to identify if and how siblings influenced social skill levels of children as they move into adolescence.
Students in grades 7 through 12, involving more than 100 schools nationwide, were interviewed during the 1994/95 academic year using data from the National Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health). They examined friendships among the students asking them to identify up to five male and five female friends from the school roster.
No significant differences were found between the number of ‘friend’ nominations a student got, whether they did or did not have siblings. There were also no differences if the siblings were brothers, sisters, a combination of both, or if they were ‘step’, ‘half’ or adopted siblings.
Researachers also considered a myriad of other factors, including socioeconomic status, parents’ age, race, and whether or not a teen lives with both biological parents or not. Consideration was also given to families who have a high number of siblings. Authors noted no change in the relationship between the social skill levels and any of these factors.
“In every combination we tested, siblings had no impact on how popular a student was among peers,” Bobbitt-Zeher said.
Reasoning behind the difference in results between adolescents and kindergarteners on this issue according to Bobbitt-Zeher is, “Kids interact in school, they’re participating in extracurricular activities, and they’re socializing in and out of school. Anyone who didn’t have that peer interaction at home with siblings gets a lot of opportunities to develop social skills as they go through school.”
A study at the University of Michigan back in the ’80’s suggests that cognitive skills in grade-school children are hampered by multiple siblings, but not in Junior High or High School. It also suggests income, education and working mothers are detrimental to the level of cognitive skills in young school aged children.
It is not possible for any of these studies to assess every situation in families across America and determine with certainty whether young children or adolescents are at a marked disadvantage whether they have no siblings or many siblings, “working” mothers or stay-at-home moms; single or double parenting (or if single parenting, does it matter if they live with Mom or Dad?).