CHAPTER I This study examines the special bond between parents and only children, emphasizing the behavioral, social, and emotional characteristics that set these relationships apart from those have siblings. By contrasting these aspects with households where several children share parental attention, the study also looks into parental expectations, emotional connection, and the effects of an only child's socialization patterns. According to the findings, only children typically have closer, more intense emotional ties to their parents, which are frequently accompanied by higher expectations and a more centralized family structure. However, they also have certain difficulties, such as a possible over-reliance on parents and a lack of social skills in sibling interactions. INTRODUCTION Children's social, emotional, and psychological development is greatly influenced by their family dynamics. Because of its unique characteristics, the bond between parents and an only child has drawn attention from both academic study and popular discourse among the different family arrangements. An only child usually sees the family unit in a more isolated setting, where parentchild interaction is frequently more direct and focused, in contrast to children who have siblings. It is essential to comprehend this dynamic since it has a substantial influence on the child's behavioral patterns, emotional health, and general level of life satisfaction. According to Abrahams (2024) Only children are stereotyped as spoiled, selfish, and they always get things their way. So, when people see an only child who is the opposite to that they think that they are nothing like an only child. Since all the attention is to the child, he or she will always feel pressured which can come with both benefits and challenges According to Susan N. Ph.D. (2024) entitled, “Growing up without siblings: Adult only children speak out”, that the relationship between an only child with their parents is really personal since all the parents love goes to the child, which creates a healthy relationship. Due to the fact, that the attention goes to the child it could be both empowering and challenging. Empowering in a way that the parents will only care for the child and the child only, while it’s challenging since the pressure will only be to the child. Nonetheless, the most important thing is the parenting style whether a parent has an only child or many, according to Veronica she said, “Shouldn't it only matter that parents know their limits and the child is raised with love?”. Beginning in 1979, the Chinese government implemented a population control program that lasted until 2016. Even if it has a favorable effect on population growth, the proportion of elderly people is increasing as a result. Furthermore, the aging population has created a number of challenges for effectively managing the social, economic, and healthcare ramifications. An estimated 400 million rates were avoided in China as a result of this strategy, which compelled its repeal due to its excessive effectiveness. Some researches, just like any other study has some limitations. First, one should exercise extreme caution when drawing conclusions about a causal association between parent-child relationships and only child status because of the cross-sectional structure of the dataset. Parental traits that our data did not fully capture determine whether a child is an only child or whether a parent has a relationship with children. Second, because of data limitations, we measured the parent-child relationship based on children's subjective reports of their closeness to their parents, ignoring the opinions of parents and other family members. Future research may need to report the parent-child connection in a more objective manner to guarantee measurement validity. How does the relationship of an only child with their parents differ from that of children with siblings? This study investigates the relationship and how only children behave towards their parents, the stereotypes of being an only child, and how they socialize with others. Only children have closer, more intense relationships with their parents compared to children with siblings, due to the lack of sibling interactions and shared parental attention.
