Researchers at Ohio State University surveyed more than 13000 middle school students in grades 7 to 12  In the survey, the researchers asked the students to list five male friends and five female friends, and then counted the total number of votes received by the nominated friends and selected those who received five votes for the survey
The study found that among those who received five votes, the proportion of only children was consistent with the proportion of their population in this age group,indicating that there is no significant difference in social skills between them and non-only children, and this result is not affected by the age, race and economic status of their parents
Among those who did not win the vote, the proportion of only children was higher than the proportion of them in the survey.