0_Apprentice
I am an only child, are there any problems associated with being raised that way?
1_Wizard
no not really.  some children have half-siblings or step-siblings living at the same house or a different house may have a similar family environment to only children.
0_Apprentice
Are there a lot of only children IN the United States?  I feel like other countries usually hyave lots of kids?
1_Wizard
only children were relativily uncommon throughout history 
0_Apprentice
Why is that?  I would think having less mouths to feed would be a good thing?
1_Wizard
well starting at around the 20th century, birth rates and average family sizes started to fall sharply due to the costs of raising children and women having their first child later in life.
0_Apprentice
Yeah I guess that makes sense.  Women are more involved now in the workplace, so they'll want kids later as well.
1_Wizard
Starting at around the great depression the proportion of families in the US with only children increased
0_Apprentice
The Great Depression changed a lot of things, I wouldn't have considered family size to be one of them!