Families with a single child are increasing worldwide and in just a few decades, being an only child has gone from being unusual to very frequent. In Spain, for example, the latest data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) show that in 2023 the average number of children per woman stood at 1.12, while in the countries of the European Union, 49% of households with children have a single child.
It is not surprising, therefore, that scientists have proposed to investigate what consequences can have in the long term of raising without brothers and how this circumstance can affect the emotional and psychological level throughout life. Scientists of the General Hospital of the Medical University of Tianjin and other Institutes of China have conducted a new study with the aim of better understanding how the condition of only child affects the brain and behavior of people during adulthood.
The results have been published in Nature Human Behaviour And they have revealed specific patterns in brain development and activity, as well as behavioral tendencies, which are generally observed in adults who grew without brothers. “With the worldwide increase in families with unique children, it is crucial to understand the effects of growing without siblings in the adult brain, behavior and underlying roads,” Jie Tang, Jing Zhang and his colleagues in their article have written.
The environment is decisive in behavior and mental health
In their article, the researchers explain that they used data collected within the framework of the study of images of images of China (Chimgen), carried out in 32 Chinese research centers to study the associations that had to grow without brothers with the structure, function, connectivity, cognition, personality and mental health of the adult brain, as well as the brain and behavioral development, in 2,397 pairs of individuals with and without brothers, who had ages between the 18 years, and presented demographic characteristics and similar background.
And they affirm that they have found associations that link to grow without brothers with greater integrity of the language fibers, a lower integrity of motor fibers, a greater cerebellar volume, a lower brain volume and a lower spontaneous brain activity Frontotemporal. “Contrary to stereotyped impression of associations between growing without brothers and problematic behaviors, we find positive correlations of growing without brothers with neurocognition and mental health.”
They also verified that most of the brain and behavioral results related to growing without brothers could be seen influenced by other modifiable factors and environmentssuch as the socioeconomic level, maternal care and family support, which suggests that they are potential objectives to carry out interventions that contribute to the healthy growth of children.
“Contrary to stereotyped impression of associations between growing without brothers and problematic behaviors, we find positive correlations of growing without brothers with neurocognition and mental health”
When comparing the brains and behaviors of the participants, the researchers obtained new knowledge about how the lack of brothers to the brain and the behavior of people in adulthood affects. Interestingly, they discovered recurring patterns among the unique children in terms of the integrity of white matter, brain volume, neuronal activity, memory and mental health, in addition to revealing characteristic behavioral phenotypes (that is, cognitive, personality and behavioral tendencies).
“We find associations that link growing without brothers with greater integrity of the language fibers, a lower integrity of motor fibers, a greater cerebellar volume, a lower brain volume and a lower frontotemporal spontaneous brain activity,” wrote Tang, Zhang and their colleagues.
The conclusions of the study suggest that most of these effects are related to the environment in which they grow and the stimuli to which children are exposed or not, which suggests that carefully designed interventions intended to expand the experiences and opportunities available for the unique children could help improve their brain functions, their mental health and their behavior in adulthood.
Source: www.webconsultas.com