研究顯示:子女少的家庭對孩子成長更有利

Every kid from a small family has probably felt sorry for themselves at one time or another for not having loads of brother and sisters. From the outside looking in, there's a lot to envy about families that have enough kids to field their own baseball game, produce complex harmonies a la "The Sound of Music," or put on a play without casting stuffed animals in major roles.

每個來自小家庭的孩子可能都或多或少感到遺憾，因爲他們沒有一大堆兄弟姐妹陪伴成長。從表面上看，如果一個家庭中有足夠多的孩子來打屬於他們自己家庭的棒球，或者是在《音樂之聲》中演唱複雜的和聲，再或者是在一場家庭劇中不使用動物來充當主要角色，這實在是很令人羨慕的一件事，

But a new study shows there are convincing reasons not to romanticize large families. The study suggests that with every additional kid born, the other siblings are more likely to suffer from lower cognitive abilities and more behavioral issues, and have worse outcomes later in life.

但一項新研究顯示，我們有令人信服的理由證明，不應美化多子女家庭。該研究發現，每增加一個孩子，其他孩子認知能力降低的可能性就更高，他們會出現更多行爲問題，未來生活的結局也會更糟。

The researchers found that the birth of another kid also lowered the overall amount of education that each child received.

研究人員發現，多生一個孩子還會降低每個孩子受教育的程度。

Countries like Norway, which have extensive welfare programs, parental leave and other supportive policies for families, and strong public education, might see less of a trade-off for families between the quantity and quality of children, they hypothesize. But parents in countries like the United States and China, might be forced to choose, they say.

他們認爲，在像挪威這樣擁有完善的社會福利體系、父母有足夠的休假、擁有其他的家庭扶持政策，以及強大的公共教育的國家中，每個家庭不太會去權衡孩子的數量和質量這一問題。但是那些生活在像美國和中國這樣國家的父母，必須要在兩者之中做出選擇。