Editing One-child policy (section)

===Potential social problems & "little emperor" phenomenon===
{{see also|Shidu (bereavement)}}
In urban areas especially, a byproduct of the one-child policy has been changing family dynamics. Traditionally, grandparents had been the focal point of the family in China: they were adored by all family members, and were the ones who exercised decision-making in the day-to-day life of the family.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite journal |last1=Feng |first1=Xiao-Tian |last2=Poston |first2=Dudley L |last3=Wang |first3=Xiao-Tao |date=2014-03-01 |title=China's One-child Policy and the Changing Family |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.45.1.17 |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=17–29 |doi=10.3138/jcfs.45.1.17 |issn=0047-2328}}</ref> Feng suggests that the implementation of the one-child policy and the resulting numbers of one-child families have greatly reduced the multigenerational family form and has weakened the central position of elders in the family.<ref name="auto2" /> Feng also suggests that the one-child policy has caused parents to spend less leisure time alone, and more leisure time with their children. Feng writes, "[t]he children tend to rely more so on their parents as companions and to participate together in recreational activities." He continues, "[t]his has promoted an equality in the parent-child relationship and has restricted to a certain extent the interactions of children with others."<ref name="auto2" /> In the one-child family, the core is the parent-child relationship and research suggests that the husband-wife relationship has been less emphasized and cultivated as a result.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wen |first1=Cui |last2=Yongsui |first2=Dong |last3=Feng |first3=Fang |date=2002 |title=Experimental study of mouse cytomegalovirus infected mice |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02828198 |journal=Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology [Medical Sciences] |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=260–264 |doi=10.1007/bf02828198 |issn=1672-0733 |pmid=12658822 |s2cid=1904011}}</ref> In China, the one-child policy has been associated with the term "little emperor", which describes the perceived effects of parents focusing their attention exclusively on their only child. The term gained popularity as a way to suggest that only children may become "spoiled brats" due to the excess attention they receive from their parents.<ref name="auto2" />

A study by Cameron and colleagues explored this phenomenon, finding that the one-child policy had behavioral impacts on only children. The authors tested Beijing youths born in several birth cohorts just before and just after the launch of the one-child policy using economic games designed to detect differences in desirable social behaviors like trust and altruism. The study found that only children in China were more likely to exhibit narcissistic and selfish behavior compared to those with siblings.<ref name="auto6">{{Cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=L. |last2=Erkal |first2=N. |last3=Gangadharan |first3=L. |last4=Meng |first4=X. |date=2013-02-22 |title=Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China's One-Child Policy |journal=Science |volume=339 |issue=6122 |pages=953–957 |bibcode=2013Sci...339..953C |doi=10.1126/science.1230221 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=23306438 |s2cid=16152768 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The study also found that only children had higher levels of academic achievement, but lower levels of social competence and empathy.<ref name="auto6" /> Overall, these findings suggest that the one-child policy had unintended social and psychological consequences that may have lasting effects on Chinese society as a whole.

Other scholarship supports that the "little emperor" phenomenon does exist. Jiao and colleagues compared children between the ages of four and ten from urban and suburban areas of Beijing using peer ratings of cooperativeness, leadership, and other desirable traits. When they analyzed a matched sample of only children and children with siblings from similar backgrounds, they reported constant patterns in which the only children were rated less positively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jiao |first1=Shulan |last2=Ji |first2=Guiping |last3=Ching) |first3=Qicheng Jing (C. C. |date=1986 |title=Comparative Study of Behavioral Qualities of Only Children and Sibling Children |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1130591 |journal=Child Development |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=357 |doi=10.2307/1130591 |issn=0009-3920 |jstor=1130591}}</ref>

However, researchers Chen and Jin outline some of the arguably positive byproducts of this "little emperor" phenomenon. They suggest that, since only children receive more attention and resources from their parents, it can lead to improved academic performance and overall success in life.<ref name="auto5" />

With the first generation of children born under the policy (which initially became a requirement for most couples with first children born starting in 1979 and extending into the 1980s) reaching adulthood, such worries were reduced.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Deane |first=Daniela |date=26 July 1992 |title=The Little Emperors |page=16 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-26-tm-5347-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029214602/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-26/magazine/tm-5347_1_one-child-policy |archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

Toni Falbo, a professor of educational psychology and sociology at the University of Texas at Austin came to the conclusion that no measurable differences exist in terms of sociability and characterization between singleton children and multi-sibling children except that single children scored higher on intelligence and achievement – due to a lack of "dilution of resources".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Falbo |first1=T. |last2=Polit |first2=D.F. |date=1986 |title=Quantitative review of the only child literature: Research evidence and theory development |journal=Psychological Bulletin |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=176–189 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.100.2.176}}</ref>

Some 30 delegates called on the government in the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] in March 2007 to abolish the one-child rule, citing "social problems and personality disorders in young people". One statement read, "It is not healthy for children to play only with their parents and be spoiled by them: it is not right to limit the number to two children per family, either."<ref name= CPPCC/> The proposal was prepared by Ye Tingfang, a professor at the [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]], who suggested that the government at least restore the previous rule that allowed couples to have up to two children. According to a scholar, "The one-child limit is too extreme. It violates nature's law and, in the long run, this will lead to mother nature's revenge."<ref name="CPPCC">{{Cite news |date=16 March 2007 |title=Consultative Conference: 'The government must end the one-child rule' |work=[[Asianews.it]] |location=[[Italy]] |url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8757&size=A |url-status=live |access-date=16 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929134207/http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8757&size=A |archive-date=29 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=15 March 2007 |title=Advisors say it's time to change one-child policy |work=Shanghai Daily |url=http://english.sina.com/china/1/2007/0315/106515.html |url-status=dead |access-date=25 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429061437/http://english.sina.com/china/1/2007/0315/106515.html |archive-date=29 April 2007}}</ref>