Despite fertility decline across advanced economies over the last few decades and the increasing numbers of only child families, little is known about the consequences of growing up without siblings. Previous research suggests that, despite strong stereotypes of only children, on average, singletons do as well as children with few siblings and better than children from large families.
However, many important gaps in knowledge remain about the longer-term wellbeing of only children and whether and how growing up without siblings might affect their life chances. Moreover, it is unclear whether, and if so why, patterns vary over time and across geographical contexts.
In this event, they will present findings from an ESRC funded project on only children in the UK which adopts a cross-cohort perspective. The presentation will be followed by keynote speeches by Dr Katherine Keenan and Professor Toni Falbo, who are world-leading experts in only children and their life outcomes. The event will conclude with a discussion from Dr Ben Wilson and time for general discussion and reflection.
This event will be of particular interest to:
Researchers with an interest in families and well-being, early years practitioners, health visitors, third sector organisations.