Social and psychosomatic evaluation of children with and without siblings

As of the current period and age, "Only Childhood" has increased rapidly both in our country and around the world. Reasons such as the entry of women into business life and the increasing number of working women, socioeconomic situations, and feeling psychologically prepared cause spouses to have one or two children. Due to the Covid-19 epidemic that emerged in 2019, children's social life and peer relationships have been limited accordingly. When children come together, factors such as not having a sibling, restriction of peer relationships and sociability, and an uncontrolled increase in screen exposure due to the rapid development of technology, lead to some negative emotional states and developmental delay in children. However, when considered as a single reason, the state of "Being an Only Child" means providing the necessary sociality with the support and guidance of parents; Encouraging peer relationships and pre- school education, and controlling screen exposure should not be considered as a negative situation. There are some social judgments for single children. The belief that these children are "problem" people is not an objective judgment and has no truth. Today, because the pre-school education process is a part of our lives and its prevalence increases day by day; Even if children do not have siblings, they have the opportunity to spend time with their peers in educational areas. What prevents and hinders this situation is the behavior of parents. Family is very important in creating and shaping the child's personality and character traits. In the rapidly changing family dynamics; Patriarchal family dynamics are being replaced by egalitarian family dynamics day by day. In terms of being successful parents, especially harmony in marriage; health, emotional and socioeconomic harmony and balance are taken as basis. In family relationships, relationships between spouses, parent-child relationships, and relationships between siblings are very important. This study was conducted to compare the social and psychosomatic similarities and differences between children with and without siblings. For this purpose, the study was conducted with the parents of children born in 2015-2020 at Yuvamiz Istanbul Children's Activity Centers, which are located in Büyükçekmece, Çatalca, Silivri, Esenyurt, Beylikdüzü and Avcılar districts of Istanbul. Social Skills Scale, Child Somatization Inventory-24 (ÇSE-24) and Personal Information Form were used in the research. A total of 443 parents participated in the study. vii As a result of our research, it is seen that the self-control levels of participants who have an only child differ significantly according to their educational level. However, it is seen that the levels of social skills and assertion of rights do not differ significantly according to educational status. In other words, the educational background of the participants who have only one child does not affect their child somatization inventory, social skills, cooperation and rights-seeking levels. It can be stated that participants with different education levels think similarly about these issues. For participants with more than one child, it is observed that their level of seeking their rights varies significantly depending on their educational level. There is a moderate, positive and significant correlation between the duration of marriage of participants with only one child and their child somatization inventory levels. The duration of marriage and cooperation levels of participants with more than one child are low, positive and significant; There is a moderate, positive and significant correlation between child somatization levels. There is no significant correlation between the duration of marriage and social skill levels of participants who have more than one child. Accordingly, it can be said that having or not having a sibling does not have a direct negative impact on the family dynamics, the relationship between the parents, or the child's mental and psychosomatic development.