Better with Siblings? A Comparison of Only Children and Children with Siblings in Prosocial Behaviors of Korean Preschool Children

The debate between the two perspectives regarding the benefits of growing up with siblings versus growing up alone is ongoing. The current study was conducted to explore how young children`s prosocial skills are influenced by sibling status. Prosocial behaviors of 340 preschool children in South Korea were rated by their teachers and compared between children with siblings versus those who do not. The results showed that growing up with siblings did appear to have a positive influence on younger children, and the birth order and the gender of siblings did not affect prosocial behaviors among those children with siblings. Moreover, a mediation model showed that the difference between the two groups in prosocial behaviors was mediated by age, suggesting that the effect of sibling status on children`s prosocial behaviors diminished as children got older. Further analyses, for possible explanations of other factors playing parts in the relationship between sibling status and prosocial behaviors are discussed.