It's interesting that only children, while some of them really follow in their parents' path and can be pretty conservative, there's also a lot of support for how self-actualizing and often even radical only children can be. For example, there were studies from a while back that haven't been disproven since then that look at how only children are more likely to come out of the closet if they're gay, they're more likely to reject the religion that they were raised in it if they disagree with it, showing that female only children have really strong numbers behind making their own career choices and having a strong role in their marriages. There's a lot of independence and free thinking that tends to accompany only childhood. And when you put that together with the higher statistics around achievement and verbal ability, it's a very powerful way to grow up.