Comparison of Behavioral Disorders in Single Child vs. Multiple Children Families

Objectives The present study was conducted to compare the prevalence of behavioral dis- orders among children in single child families vs. children in multiple children families. Method To evaluate such disorders, through multi-stage cluster sampling, 837 children from elementary schools in Tehran were selected as the subjects of the study. 422 of these child- ren were from single and 415 children were from multiple children families. Child Symp-tom Inventory, CSI-4 was completed separately by both the parents and teachers. The find- ings of the research were analyzed by 2 and regression. Findings The subjects from multiple children, much more than the ones from the single child families, exhibited higher prevalence of conduct disorder according to the parents’ re- ports and higher prevalence of ADHD and other behavioral disorders according to the tea- cher’s reports. Furthermore, the presence or absence of one of the parents was a significant factor intervening in the spoken difference; combination of the two factors, single child fa- milies and the number of parents impacted the prevalence of related disorders. Results This study did not confirm the popular belief that the children of single child fa-milies suffer from higher prevalence of behavioral disorders.