The article claims that girls in a family make the family happier and more optimistic. The researcher speculates that the cause is because girls “tie loved ones closer”, whatever that means, and “encourage them to communicate their emotions more effectively”.
“Tie loved ones closer together” is science speak for “We don’t have a clue”. It is possible that the other family members might be encouraged to communicate their emotions more, but it would be of negligible influence.
The effect the scientist are seeing is energy interactions. According to Yin Yang Theory, Men are Yang which is defined as hard, and women are Yin which is defined as soft.
Yin energy is calming energy. The reason families with girls are happier and more optimistic, is the increase in Yin energy in the family because of the presence of girls.
The story also says that more boys have an opposite effect. The family becomes less happy and less optimistic. That is because Yang is hard. Yang energy tends to make people clash. I would hesitatingly say that Yang energy could be compared to people who are described as “having lots of testosterone”. If you put boys with lots of testosterone in a room, there is going to be a fight. That is because they are all Yang and their Yang energy naturally fights with each other for dominance.
The news story is included below.
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Growing up with at least one girl in the family also makes people more able to cope with their problems, according to the study.
Daughters tie loved ones closer together and encourage them to communicate their emotions more effectively, the researchers believe.
Prof Tony Cassidy, from the University of Ulster, who carried out the study with researchers from De Montfort University in Leicester, said that having a sister helped to promote good mental health.
He said: “Sisters appear to encourage more open communication and cohesion in families. However, brothers seem to have the alternative effect. Emotional expression is fundamental to good psychological health and having sisters promotes this in families.”
Girls who had sisters also tended to be more independent and keen on achievement, according to the findings.
The effects were stronger among children from broken homes, suggesting that sisters might lean on each other more for support when their parents divorce.
Prof Cassidy added that the lowest scores were among boys who had only brothers.
“It could be that boys have a natural tendency not to talk about things,” he said. “With boys together it is about a conspiracy of silence not to talk. Girls tend to break that down.”
The study questioned 571 young adults, aged between 17 and 25, about the make-up of their families and their emotional well-being.
Only children tended to score in the middle range for happiness and optimism.
Liz Wright, the co-author of the study, said: “With only children we found that they had lots of strong communication outside of the home. It appears that they have as much social support as those with siblings, but it does not come from within the family.”
The findings will be presented today at the British Psychological Society annual meeting in Brighton.
An only child is not an overly happy thing. He is usually not as well socialized as the boy who grows up with siblings. The siblings provide early and continual stimulus for social growth, and strong social skills are prerequisite for a happy life in society. Furthermore, men who grow up with sisters are usually much more relaxed and playful around women and have much happier love lives (hence the optimism) than only-children who tend to spend their entire lives trying unsuccessfully to demystify women, like old dogs looking for new tricks.