Discussion Only Child Syndrome

[Qdv]

Curious if anyone thinks being an only child contributes to developmental or emotional impairments later on in life? Combined with family dysfunction

 

[Hexen]

I've been told that it does. I am single child and some people have told me something along those lines that I can be selfish and that its because I didn't have sister or brother. I do think I can be that way mostly because I am caught up in my own problems and depression on a daily basis. Some say that being only child can make you become spoiled, but I am not spoiled at all, nor was I ever. I am actually quite humble to the point that I wait to buy new clothes and shoes when they start really falling apart. I also rarely buy stuff and also feel guilty for buying stuff.

 

[strangecreature]

I think some of my problems are the result of being an only child. Because I didn't have any siblings, I didn't really learn how to play with or talk to other children. I remember I tried to make friends in primary school, but I didn't know how to approach kids. They saw how socially awkward I was, so they started bullying me.
I was always shy, I never had self confidence, and I developed social anxiety. I was also really isolated, I think that's the other reason why I didn't learn how to socialize. We never had any guests, we never visited anyone (apart from my grandparents), we only had 2 holidays in 19 years. My parents never allowed me to do sports or any other social activities. I feel like being an only child and being isolated are the main reasons why I am a social failure. I'm 19 years old, but I still don't know how to talk to people.

 

[sleepless]

On the contrary, I have an elder sibling who has affected me adversely. We were quite close when we were young, but I was too young, gullible and naive at that time to realize how bad an influence she had on my life. Keeping in mind quite a big chunk of that influence has sub-consciously impacted my behavior in later life developments.

She was a major contribution to how I have turned out to become today. Even though irreversible damage has already been done to my psyche, cutting her and her toxic attributes out of my life was one of the greatest moves I have ever executed. Well, so the grass is not always greener on the other side.

 

[Sweet emotion]

I'm an only child and I used to be very very shy but once I hit 17 idk I just came out of my shell and I've been an extrovert ever since. But I always had friends. It would have been nice to have brothers and sisters but what can you do?

 

[LastFlowers]

I imagine it could if you didn't have any sibling substitutes like childhood friends or cousins. It helps with social development and to know you have a built-in support system of peers, not just parents.
For me, because of the nature of my issues, having siblings only makes me feel 1000x worse in comparison.
Thank god I don't have a sister because having brothers and cousins to compare myself to is bad enough as it is. If I could magically make my problems disappear and go back in time, siblings would be preferable.
But as of now, their existence just makes my burden more difficult to bear and my differences more obvious. They also don't give a rat's ass about me so there's that as well, although we shared a very close childhood.

 

[TearyEyedQueen]

I'm an only child since my parents were a bit older when they met and even they admit it screwed me up socially. My only cousin is 7 years older than me so we were never close. It was good until 12 when I still had friends but later on the isolation hit and it sucked ever since.
I remember writing a letter to Santa Clause when I was a child and wishing for a sibling. God, ignorance truly ws bliss back then.

 

[Worthless_nobody]

I think it absolutely does. Being an only child and being severely sheltered and trapped in a dysfunctional family with no siblings to relate to is the worst. My parents admit they fucked up. I was not been able to progress socially like all my peers did and I am extremely behind in functioning in adulthood. The sheltering and lack of socialization made me go the complete opposite and I went crazy and did everything they didn't want me to do. The sad thing is I learned most of what I know about life from an ex of mine.

Some people go on about how only children are lucky because they get showered with love and gifts and attention but that's not the case for all of us like myself.