EP Thoughts: 19/07/12

As it is now the summer holidays I will have far more time to focus on my project and so far have done so. I have drafted once again the focus for each paragraph of the dissertation, and this is probably quite close to the actual format I will adopt:

Intro

Content- What is an only child, why do parents have an only child, what myths surround only children- introduce ‘only child syndrome’

Personal- why have I chosen this, what will I gain from it, how will it extend me

Paragraph one

How does being an only child really affect the child?

i)                    Personality traits

ii)                  OWN RESEARCH – questionnaires/surveys

iii)                Social behaviour/skills

iv)                Are only children more likely to have behavioural problems in the future?

Paragraph two

How common is it/do people perceive it to be?

i)                    Data tables from UK

ii)                  Cultural differences

iii)                Famous only children – has this affected their success/what they are successful for?

Paragraph three

Factors that may affect how only children behave

i)                    Family set-up

ii)                  Gender

EP Research: 19/07/12

I spent the morning in Cambridge Central Library yesterday, and managed to find the book by Anne Coates that I had discovered using their online search tool;

Anne Coates, 1996. Your Only Child, Bloomsbury

As my library card has not arrived yet, I simply took a few notes and references from this book whilst I was there, including some data from a couple of tables which I have just converted myself in an excel document;

Social trends 23, 1993 edition 'Percentages of families with one child in Great Britain'

EP Research: 17/07/12

Extract from David R. Shaffer, 1995. Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. 4th Edition. Brooks/Cole Pub Co relative to my project (this book is reference only and this is the last day of the college term so I have to get this information now!):

"Are "only" children who grow up without siblings the spoiled, selfish, overindulged brats that people often presume them to be? Hardly! Two major reviews of hundreds of pertinent studies found that only children are (1) relatively high, on average, in self-esteem and achievement motivation, (2) more obedient and slightly more intellectually competent than children with siblings, and (3) likely to establish good relations with peers (Falbo, 1992; Falbo & Polit, 1986). Since only children enjoy an exclusive relationship with their parents, they may receive more quality time from parents and more direct achievement training than children with siblings do, perhaps explaining their tendency to be relatively friendly, well-behaved, and instrumentally competent (Baskett, 1985). Moreover, these singletons have no younger sibs that they can bully, and, like later0bnorns, they may soon learn that they must negotiate and be accommodating if they hope to play successfully with peer playmates, most of whom are probably at least as powerful as they are."

"In 1979, the People's Republic of China implemented a one-child family policy in an attempt to control its burgeoning population... there is no evidence that China's one-child policy has produced..."little emperors". Only children in China closely resemble only children in Western countries (Falbo & Posten, 1993)"

EP Research: 16/07/12

I have just had a good search in the Hills Road library and come across two books- one of which I can take home- which will be of use to me. These are;

David R. Shaffer, 1995. Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. 4th Edition. Brooks/Cole Pub Co.

Peter K. Smith, 2011. Understanding Children's Development. 5 Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.

EP Thoughts: 16/07/12

Another possible topic to cover would be celebrities/famous people who are only children, and if there is any difference in success rate or their personalities. This would also help me because I don't know any other only children myself. Because of this, it's going to be impossible to study only children alone, as there are simply not enough of us! I will have to compare only children to those with siblings in order to gain my information.

EP Lesson: 13/07/12

I have just signed up for a library card online so I will not have to do this over the weekend, it should be posted to me within a week!

EP Thoughts: 13/07/12

I have recently been unable to write posts in my blog as I have have been doing various University preparation before the summer, so I have longer in the summer to focus on my extended project as I believe this would be the prime time for its completion.
In order to gather my resources, I am aiming to get a library card within the next week; preferably the coming weekend. I can then start taking out relevant books which I have found on the Cambridge library online database.
Any books I am unable to locate in the library I plan to purchase on Amazon, as they will be the lowest cost here.