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2013-01-11 12:57:36
By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC World Service
People growing up under China's one-child policy are less trusting, more risk
averse and more pessimistic, a study concludes.
An Australian team of researchers compared people who were born just before the
policy was introduced with those born after.
They used economic games and surveys to assess the participants' behavioural
and personality traits.
The findings are published in the journal Science.
The lead author of the study Professor Lisa Cameron, from Monash University in
Victoria, told the BBC's Science in Action programme: "We found that people
born under the one-child policy were significantly less trusting and less
trustworthy, significantly less likely to take risks and less competitive than
those who were born before.
"We also conducted personality surveys and we found that those born under the
one-child policy were less conscientious, slightly more neurotic and
significantly more pessimistic than those born before."
However, another scientist from the University of Oxford said that the team was
making a very strong claim and the differences between the two groups might not
be solely down to the policy.
Money games
China's population-control policy was introduced in 1979, and it restricts
couples in urban areas to have only one child.
The researchers looked at 421 adults: half was born a few years before the
policy was introduced and the other half were born a few years after.
They used different economic experiments to study the participants.
Start Quote
In China, there is a very common belief that the one child generation is spoilt
and selfish and they are not hardworking
Professor Xin Meng Australian National University in Canberra
One, called the "trust game", involved a scenario where a volunteer was given
some money. They were then given the option of giving some of this to an
anonymous partner, who in turn would get that amount tripled. The anonymous
partner then had the option of giving back some of this to the original
volunteer.
Professor Xin Meng, from the Australian National University in Canberra,
explained: "The first part of this is about trust. It says I trust the other
person will return some money. The second is about trustworthiness, that
somebody trusted you to return the money.
"Those who were born after the policy would give significantly less money to
the partner, and they also returned less money to the original person who gave
them the money."
Other simple experiments and surveys tested other traits such as the propensity
for taking risks, competitiveness, optimism and pessimism.
Prof Meng said: "In China, there is a very common belief that the one-child
generation is spoilt and selfish and they are not hardworking . even though it
is a common belief, no-one has ever tested this thing, or given hard evidence -
and that is why we decided to study this."
She added that China was currently reconsidering its policy, and she hoped the
results of the study would be taken into account.
Free choice
The researchers said that their results were not representative of all children
who grew up without any siblings.
Prof Meng explained: "In other societies where fertility is a choice, only
certain types of people choose to give birth to a single child - the majority
will not. And these people will have certain personality traits and behaviour
patterns. And when they give birth to a single child, these children are more
likely to inherit these traits.
Chinese children China is currently reconsidering its policy
"When you look at a society where fertility is a free choice, then the results
will be a combination of the qualities you inherited, plus those you have
gained growing up as a single child."
The team added that the one child policy was not strictly enforced throughout
the country, so the results should not be applied to everyone in China.
Start Quote
There are almost an infinite number of other explanations of anything else that
could have varied with time
Prof Stuart West Oxford University
Prof Cameron explained: "I am conscious when I present these results that I am
standing up there talking about a slew of what people might think as negative
consequences of the policy on only children.
"I certainly don't want to portray that only children have significant
problems. It is just suggestive that growing up without siblings does have an
impact."
Professor Stuart West, from the University of Oxford, said the study was "very
interesting".
However, he cautioned against some of the conclusions that had been drawn.
He explained: "They are making very strong claims about differences in
behaviour for people born before or after 1979, and they are inferring it is
all to do with the introduction of the one child policy in that year.
"The problem is that is a potential explanation for that data - but there are
almost an infinite number of other explanations of anything else that could
have varied with time: variation of socio-economic environment, prosperity,
nutrition, political environment - anything."