Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1396-1403
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Family planning and child mental health in China: the Nanjing Survey
WS Tseng, T Kuotai, J Hsu, JH Chiu, L Yu and V Kameoka
Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu 96813.
The authors studied the impact of China's one-child-per-couple family
planning policy on child development in 697 preschool children in the city
of Nanjing and in two rural areas surrounding Nanjing. A home- visit
questionnaire survey including a Chinese version of Achenbach's Child
Behavior Checklist was used. The behavior problem profiles of children who
were their parents' only children and those who had siblings were compared,
revealing a significant difference between girls who were only children and
those who had siblings. Girls who were only children tended to have
slightly higher scores on the factors of depression, moody, and temper.
