The diagram above is designed to introduce the complexity of the only child personality through the life span. It is constructed as a result of my research that emerged from life-stories and interviews. The matrix has three strands of intra, inter, and extra – psychic to offer a three dimensional understanding of the way these three interact. At the centre of the only-child matrix is the intrapsychic, the private world of the only-child with two themes juxtaposed: that of the only-child’s feeling of specialness coupled with a feeling of aloneness and lack of connection to others. This is a result of never having been dethroned by a sibling, and at the same time missing out on the social and emotional learning a sibling provides. Without the ‘rough and tumble’ of sibling interaction, opportunities for dealing with jealousy, anger, envy and conflict, in the relatively safe environment of the home, are [...]
