The influence of Chinese one-child family status on developmental coordination disorder status.

Hua et al. (2014) looked at preschoolers in mainland China. They asked: do kids without brothers or sisters show more motor problems?

They compared only-children with kids who have siblings. All children were 3–5 years old and attended regular kindergartens.

Teachers and parents filled out standard motor checklists. The team then counted how many children met the cutoff for developmental coordination disorder, or DCD.

Only-children scored lower on every motor task. They also met the DCD cutoff more often than kids with siblings.

The gap was small but held up even after the researchers adjusted for age, sex, and city type.

Redondo-Tébar et al. (2021) saw the same low motor scores in Spanish preschoolers with DCD. Their study used quality-of-life scales instead of sibling status, yet the negative pattern matches.

Delgado-Lobete et al. (2019) found a 12 % DCD rate in older Spanish pupils. That number is higher than Jing’s Chinese rate, but the Spanish sample was 8–14 years old and used a looser screening rule—so the two studies do not really clash.

Takahashi et al. (2017) showed that even mild motor delays raise maternal stress in Israeli 3–5-year-olds. Together with Jing’s work, this suggests early motor screening should happen no matter the family size or country.

If you screen preschoolers in Chinese families, mark “only-child” as a small red flag. The child may need extra motor play, climbing, or catching games at home and at school. Share this finding with parents who feel guilty about having just one child; the risk is modest and fixable with activity.