parents than their peers with siblings. Falbo and her colleague Denise Polit conducted a series of meta-analyses of over 100 studies of only children that considered developmental outcomes in adjustment, character, sociability, achievement, and intelligence. The studies included in the meta-analyses were mainly from the U.S. and Canada, yet were diverse with respect to socioeconomic class and race/ethnicity. The authors found no evidence in support of the stereotype that only children are lonely, selfish, and maladjusted. Rather, only children tended to score higher on tests of verbal ability and intelligence than children with siblings (with the exception of firstborns who scored comparably to only children). Only children and firstborns also showed higher achievement (i.e., academic performance, educational attainment, occupational prestige) than children with older siblings. Falbo also found that only children surpassed children in large families in the quality of their relationships with parents. Other work, which including children from China as well as the U.S., indicate advantages of older children with regards to character development (autonomy, maturity, leadership). Another study examined whether the presence of siblings promoted health over the lifespan. Falbo and her colleagues examined the health status of a large sample middle age adults from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Using data from almost 4000 individuals (high school graduates of the class of 1957), the researchers found no effect of sibling status on health outcomes. Instead, they found evidence that better health was associated with having higher educational attainment and higher socioeconomic status. Representative Publications References External links Faculty page Falbo lab American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists Educational psychologists University of Texas at Austin faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Living people 1947 births 20th-century American psychologists