Friday, November 19, 2010

China's Single-Child Adults Too Selfish for Marriage?

From economic theory we know that monopolists, when insulated from market competition, can get away with charging high prices and offering poor service.  A single child has a form of "monopoly power" on his or her parents' time, affection, attention and financial resources, and without competition from rival siblings, can often exercise that monopoly power by behaving selfishly and narcissistically.  Of course the parents can play a role by pampering their only child, but the stereotypical outcome is that only children (monopolists) become "spoiled."

There are now reports that China's divorce rate is soaring (Beijing's divorce rate is almost 40%), possibly because China's spoiled "single-child monopolists" may be "too selfish for marriage" as adults.

According to a recently-divorced 24-year old Chinese woman:
 
"Marriage requires forgiveness, understanding, tolerance and compromise. Yet we post-1980s generation neglect this entirely. No one will compromise. We just argue. Of all my friends who are married, 100 percent are unhappy."

And looking to the future she has this telling comment: "Next time I'll look for a husband with siblings."
 
As they say, "competition breeds competence." 

10 Comments:

At 11/19/2010 10:55 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"Of all my friends who are married, 100 percent are unhappy"...

Marriage = Shackled

 
At 11/19/2010 12:13 PM, Blogger Buddy R Pacifico said...

"Of all my friends who are married 100 percent are unhappy..."

They may be "unhappy" because of cai'li or the marriage price the groom's family pays the bride. The competition for spouses is resulting in very high marraige prices for brides.

What is the result of high cai'li? It's Cold Cash Not Cold Feet Motivating Runaway Brides in China.

 
At 11/19/2010 12:30 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Competition breeds competence.

hear that Postal Service? VA? USDA? Department of Defense?

 
At 11/19/2010 4:55 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

Well, perhaps China's One
Child policy is working to limit population growth even better than expected. If single children are too selfish for marriage, they will almost certainly be too selfish to consider having children themselves.

 
At 11/19/2010 9:29 PM, Blogger Stanley's Blog said...

That's why we called them Little Emperor.

 
At 11/20/2010 11:47 AM, Blogger Hydra said...

China has more people studying English than America has speaking it. If competition breeds excellence, we are toast.

 
At 11/20/2010 1:43 PM, Blogger Don Culo said...

We just argue. Of all my friends who are married, 100 percent are unhappy."

*****************
Sounds like the married couples I know.

 
At 11/21/2010 11:06 AM, Blogger yourong said...

Is one child policy related to divorce rate? How do you explain the high divorce rate in US?

 
At 11/23/2010 1:58 PM, Blogger jsskagray said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 11/23/2010 1:59 PM, Blogger jsskagray said...

"If single children are too selfish for marriage, they will almost certainly be too selfish to consider having children themselves."

China may think that the one child law will solve the population problem but as a result it has lead to many other problems unrelated to population issues. Policy maker have an enormously difficult job, cause and effect must always be evaluated before putting a policy in place. Breeding a population of Chinese was not a concern of the Chinese policy makers.

 

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