Personality and intelligence characteristics of an only child in a family (using students as an example)

the scientific literature has repeatedly emphasized the importance of intra-family factors in personality formation and the development of intelligence. A special place among such factors is occupied by the status of the child in the family, related to the order of birth and the presence or absence of siblings. This paper presents a study aimed at identifying differences in personality and intelligence among students who are the only children in the family, compared with students with siblings. The Russian-language version of the Big Five Inventory-2 questionnaire was used to assess personality traits. The hypothesis was that the only children in the parental family would have statistically significant differences in a number of personality parameters and intelligence indicators compared to people who have siblings. The study involved 225 respondents assigned to one of four groups: an only child, an older, middle, and younger sibling. The study revealed differences in a number of Big Five scales, which are closely related to the style of family upbringing and interpersonal interaction of a child with adults and peers. The analysis of the data allowed us to establish that the factors determining different trajectories of personal and intellectual development may depend not only on the status position of the child, but also on gender differences, as well as socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the family. The results confirm the relevance and importance of further research aimed at in-depth study of the influence of the status of an only child on individual psychological and cognitive indicators in adolescence and adulthood.

only child, siblings, personality, intelligence, Big Five, development factors, student life