Do Demographic Characteristics Make Differences? Demographic Characteristics as Moderators in the Associations between Only Child Status and Cognitive/Non-cognitive Outcomes in China

Different family compositions and sizes may affect child development through the different modes of interaction between family members. Previous studies have comparedonly children with non-only children in cognitive/non-cognitive outcomes. However,relatively little research has systematically investigated the potential moderators amongthem. Using a large and representative sample of Chinese students (Grades 78;N = 5,752), this study examines the roles of demographic characteristics, such asgender, region, parental educational level, parental expectations, family socio-economicstatus and family structure, in the associations between only child status andcognitive/non-cognitive outcomes. For the cognitive outcomes, only child status exertsan influence on the students academic performance in Chinese and mathematics in the sample of three districts students. The examined associations between only child statusand cognitive outcomes are different in region, parental education, parental expectationsand family structure, while gender and family socio-economic status did not. Forthe non-cognitive outcomes, only child status exerts an influence on the studentsschool well-being, academic self-efficacy, a ca demic self-concept, and internal academicmotivation in the full sample of students, but not on external academic motivation. Further, the examined associations between only child status and non-cognitiveoutcomes are different in region, parental education, family socio-economic status andfamily structure, while gender and parental expectations did not. These findings suggestthat the associations between only child status and cognitive/non-cognitive outcomesare heterogeneous in terms of some of the demographic characteristics. Possibleexplanations are proposed in some concepts of region and family environment in China.