It turns out, the hair-pulling and bedroom-sharing of growing up in a big family may prep kids for adult life in a fascinating way: they're less likely to get divorced. The social skills gained by living with lots of siblings are thought to create healthier relationships later in life. The effect isn't an all-or-none situation. Instead, the effect is cumulative. Having one sister or brother reduces your probability of getting a divorce by two percent. Each additional sibling brings that likelihood down another two percent---until the number of siblings hits seven. At that point, the addition of another sibling has no effect.
Sociologists at Ohio State University came to this conclusion by analyzing data from the General Social Survey
. The survey is considered the go-to resource for information on societal trends, and is based on phone interviews with more than 57,000 adults across the United States---different groups of approximately ...
