title: Only-child and non-only-child exhibit differences in creativity and agreeableness: evidence from behavioral and anatomical structural studies.
abstract: Different family composition and size inevitably make only-children different from non-only-children. Previous studies have focused on the differences in behaviors, such as cognitive function and personality traits, between the only-child and the non-only-child. However, there are few studies that have focused on the topic of whether different family environments influence children's brain structural development and whether behavior differentially has its neural basis between only-child and non-only-child status. Thus, in the present study, we investigated the differences in cognition (e.g., intelligence and creativity) and personality and the anatomical structural differences of gray matter volume (GMV) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) between only-children and non-only-children. The behavioral results revealed that only-children exhibited higher flexibility scores (a dimension of creativity) and lower agreeableness scores (a dimension of personality traits) than non-only-children. Most importantly, the GMV results revealed that there were significant differences in the GMV between only-children and non-only-children that occurred mainly in the brain regions of the supramarginal gyrus, which was positively correlated with flexibility scores; the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which was positively correlated with agreeableness scores; and the parahippocampal gyrus. These findings may suggest that family environment (i.e., only-child vs. non-only-child), may play important roles in the development of the behavior and brain structure of individuals.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Junyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dongtao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kangcheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yadan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China. qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.|Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China. qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.|Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009863:Only Child; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Agreeableness; Creativity; Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); Only-child; Supramarginal gyrus