Mention to anybody that you are the only child, the reaction will not be pleasing to your ears. The person becomes judgmental and stereotyping in the sense that singletons (only children) are ‘spoilt brats.’ These stereotyping judgments are justified in some essence due to the famous proclamation by Hall that being an only child is a disease in itself. Hall, an iconic psychologist, was convinced that the singletons unlike children with siblings are anti-social and self-centered. His arguments led to more psychologists to support the issue, but the trend of families having a single child is increasing rapidly. The one-child policy enacted in 1979 by the Chinese government in the bid to mitigate the exploding population face much opposition from academicians and social scientists. The opposition based on Hall’s findings indicated that families having a single child would lead to raising spoilt children thus having a worse generation in future (Chen, & Liu, 2014). Studies on the issue focusing on China following the policy enactment tend to differ with Hall’s arguments indicating that singletons are better off in both academic and social lives compared to children with siblings.
The rapid preferences of families in America having a single child may be based on economic reasons due to the financial constraints and the fast trend of increasing costs of living but does that mean that these singletons are worse or better off compared to children with siblings? This essay focuses on answering this question. The paper uses different studies and theories to justify its arguments and examines the studies with the book of the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. The essay provides a summary of the issues discussed in the book to provide the user with some necessary information about the family setup of Henrietta Lacks, which is essential in depicting families with multiple children. The next chapter uses the different theories supporting either singletons or numerous children in a family.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Summary of the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
A sixteen-year-old Rebecca Skloot following her biology instructor mentioning that the HeLa was derived from an African American woman by the name Henrietta Lacks wrote the book. The book revolves around Lacks’ family from her cervical cancer illness that led to a sample of her cancerous tissue being taken without her or family’s consent to Dr George Grey, the head of tissue research at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Unlike other cells, Lacks’ cells never died and had since the 1950s been used most clinical studies. The significance of HeLa cell changed the dynamics of science and medicine and created millionaires who sold the cell for studies in different medical researches. The story is about 400 pages but this paper focuses on the family scope of the Henrietta Lacks also known as Loretta Pleasant. Lacks by the time of her death had five children and lived in an extended family. Her grandfather following the death of her mother when she was very young raised her. Her father had run after the death of her mother as he did not have means to raise the ten children leading to the division of the children among the extended family. Lacks’ raised by her grandfather together with her cousin, David ‘Day’ Lacks, who eventually married her at the age of fourteen years (Skloot, 2011). According to Skloot’s investigation, it is evident that the family had numerous children, poor, and uneducated. There were social hence the interviews from different family members, but they also experienced abuse, for instance, Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter and fourth child, first husband Alfred was abusive before the divorce. The health conditions of each child are also crucial for this study as demonstrated later in the essay.
Literature Review
The importance of family on children’s outcome is well documented with most studies indicating that families play a vital role in the result of their children. The issue of the number of children as discussed by birth-order effects becomes complicated; issues of singletons have gained pace in recent studies. There are three dominant models in the study of the impact and outcomes of only children and children with siblings, which are namely resource dilution, confluence, and attachment theory.
Resource Dilution Model
The model uses a simple illustration by first assuming that family resources are infinite. The assumption results in the acknowledgement of each sibling are reliant on the infinite resources thus decreasing with each child born in the family. The theory demonstrate that with economic and other factors that contribute to children development, an only child will benefit more and as more children are born, these resources are divided thus fewer benefits regarding each child. According to Blake as cited by Chen & Liu, 2014, the resources are divided into three categories namely, settings, opportunities, and treatments. The parameters represent essential commodities such as home, food, and books. The possibilities are exposure to the world with everything that will benefit the child, whereas treatment is based on attention and teaching. The model argues that with infinite resources, a singleton benefits more compared with children with siblings. Various studies have depicted that firstborns are the most intelligent, but these studies claim that being singletons is a disease in itself (Chen, & Liu, 2014). They argue based on the lack of socialization, but firstborns and singletons are similar in the sense they associate with grown up and are given more attention. The anxiety of parents for their first child is evident and their attention, care, and concern compared to attention or anxiety of following children hence supporting the resource dilution model. The opportunities for quality education for an only child is higher due to finance or the time spent with the grownups. Parents spend more time teaching their first child or only child compared to the time spent on numerous children and their attention is undivided thus contributing to a higher chance of academic prowess among the singletons compared to multiple children.
Confluence Model
The model bases its argument on the relationship between family size and intelligence of the children. It argues that family being an intellectual environment ensures that the child learns from their parents, but the parents have to lower their intellectual maturity for the sake of the child dependent on the age of the child. The model demonstrates that the firstborns and singletons enjoy a higher intellectual level in the family compared to other children as the level of intellectual maturity decreases each time a child is born to accommodate the newborn (Chen, & Liu, 2014). These changes prove that singletons gain most from having a high intellectual level in the families that support their academic advancement compared to children with siblings.
Attachment Theory
The theory is similar to resources dilution model in the sense that the early relationship of children with caregivers support the only child and firstborns being better off compared to children with siblings. Critics of families having a single child use the secure attachment, overprotection, and indulgence, but it is evident that the concern shown ensures that the children gain higher self-esteem and succeed in their studies and other issues (Chen, & Liu, 2014). The attachment and care ensure that the child stays healthy and has all the resources needed to achieve better lives.
Comparison with Henrietta Lacks’ Family
According to book immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, it is evident that her highest level of education was sixth grade. She had to work in the tobacco fields and attend a school that was two miles from home. Her father left after her mother’s death as he could not raise the ten children (Skloot, 2011). The number of children being a reason for Johnny Pleasant leaving the result in the question if he would have raised Henrietta Lacks if she was the only child. There are no answers from the book, but it is easier to assume that he would have stayed and Lacks life would have been different. Being raised by her grandfather, Tommy Lacks provided the social connections that psychologists such as Hall advocate for, but it led to her early marriage to her cousin Day. Tommy had many children to take care of thus did not monitor the two grandchildren Skloot, 2011). If Lacks was an only child, she would have gained all the attention and would have pursued education even in the limited resources but as resources dilution theory demonstrate, Tommy divided his attention to more children thus did not see the relationship developing.
Lacks’ children encountered multiple problems such as mistreatment from Ethel who abused the three youngest children. The health conditions of the third and fifth child also demonstrate the difficulty parents with numerous children encounter, for instance, Elsie was taken to an institution, because Henrietta Lacks was unable to care for her (Skloot, 2011). These problems are due to the number of children, as a single child would have gained more attention and care. The author claims that the children did not know about the researches, as they were uneducated, and did not know the procedure to use to ensure that the doctors taking advantage of them in different studies would stop or explain the reasons for such studies (Skloot, 2011). The resources although few would have been better off in educating one child to a higher level but choosing one child over the others would result in sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry does not exist in families with an only child thus; the family would have supported the child. The problems discussed to demonstrate the reasons singletons are better off and have an advantage over children with siblings.
The paper discussed the importance of being the only child in a family using theories and comparing the approaches with Henrietta Lacks’ family. It is evident that Lacks family’s resources were diluted, attachment inconsistent, and intellectual level lowered hence the failure to prioritize in educating the children. The high demands of a big family with many children are unfavorable for advancement in education as demonstrated by Lacks family. Singletons are unlikely to face such challenges hence they have an upper hand to advance in education and succeed in life.
References
Chen, Z., & Liu, R., (2014). Comparing Adolescent Only Children with Those Who Have Siblings on Academic Related Outcomes and Psychosocial Adjustment, Child Development Research, vol. 2014 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/578289
Skloot, R. (2011). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks .
