Firstborn and only children likelier to have anxiety
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Firstborn and only children are likelier to develop anxiety and depression by the time they reach age 8 than children who are born second or later, according to a new review of almost 182,500 cases.
Why it matters: The findings add another wrinkle to the still-unresolved debate over whether birth order affects childhood mental health. A conclusive link could aid in identifying other risk factors for behavioral disorders.
What they found: Epic Research studied 182,477 children born between 2009 and 2016 who had a well-child visit during their eighth year of life, when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggests beginning anxiety screening.
- Firstborn kids with siblings were 48% more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and 35% more likely to be diagnosed with depression compared with children who are born second or later.
- Only children were similarly 42% more likely to have anxiety and 38% more likely to have depression compared with children who had older siblings.
Go deeper: Anxiety disorders affect nearly 1 in 12 children and 1 in 4 adolescents.
- The pandemic experience, social media and risky behavior have all been blamed for so many U.S. kids being sad and stressed.
- But past research suggests birth order and the presence of a sibling also factor in personality and behavior. Suicide risk was found to be lower in firstborns in some studies, but researchers found they could also be more competitive and prone to neuroses.
- Some theories hold the youngest children tend to be the most "prosocial," or willing to help others.
The bottom line: A host of different factors could contribute to a child's mental well-being, including trauma, socioeconomic status, sex, body mass index and a maternal history of mental health disorders.
- The Epic findings put some empirical evidence behind the idea that birth order can also be a driver of one's behavioral health.
