Research on Twins and Only Children

Abstract

Research on twins and only children is of particular interest. Possible differences between children of different birth order have usually been ascribed to their differing relations with parents. Firstborn children have, until a second child is born, a monopoly on relationships and resources. Only children can be considered as extreme cases of firstborns in that they have the parents to themselves during their entire childhood. Laterborns, on the other hand, enjoy only divided parental attention and live in the company of their sibs. Twins can be considered as extreme cases of laterborns; since the spacing between them is zero, relations between twins are usually close and they are often treated as a unity. Differences between twins and singletons that are not reducible to biological differences may throw some light on the psychological importance of spacing.