Abstract
With the worldwide increase in only-child families, it is crucial to understand the effects of growing up without siblings (GWS) on the adult brain, behaviour and the underlying pathways. Using the CHIMGEN cohort, we investigated the associations of GWS with adult brain structure, function, connectivity, cognition, personality and mental health, as well as the pathway from GWS to GWS-related growth environments to brain and to behaviour development, in 2,397 pairs of individuals with and without siblings well matched in covariates. We found associations linking GWS to higher language fibre integrity, lower motor fibre integrity, larger cerebellar volume, smaller cerebral volume and lower frontotemporal spontaneous brain activity. Contrary to the stereotypical impression of associations between GWS and problem behaviours, we found positive correlations of GWS with neurocognition and mental health. Despite direct effects, GWS affects most brain and behavioural outcomes through modifiable environments, such as socioeconomic status, maternal care and family support, suggesting targets for interventions to enhance children’s healthy growth.
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Fig. 1: Brain imaging and behavioural differences between participants with and without siblings.
Fig. 2: Intergroup differences in growth environments and PEE factor scores between participants with and without siblings.
Fig. 3: Mediation and moderation of PEE factors and IDPs related to GWS effects.
Fig. 4: SEM shows the relationships between GWS, PEEs, IDPs and behavioural phenotypes.
Fig. 5: Consistent causal pathways identified by both CMA and SEM.
Data availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are divided into two categories: published data and restricted data. The voxel-wise neuroimaging statistical maps are available at https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Voxelwise_difference/24716832 (ref. [87](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02142-4#ref-CR87 "Tang, G. Voxelwise difference. figshare
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24716832.v
(2023).")). The individual-level data are not openly available because access to these data must be approved by the Human Genetic Resources Administration, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. Individual-level data from samples are stored and kept in a server physically located in mainland China. They are available from the corresponding authors upon request and with permission from the Human Genetic Resources Administration, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.
Code availability
We made use of publicly available software and tools. The publicly available tools used in our analyses are described in Methods. The core codes are available at https://github.com/tj806345670/GWoS/tree/main.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 82430063 and 82030053 to C.Y., 82202093 to J.T., 82472052 to W.Q., 82371924 to J.X. and 82402218 to N.L.), Tianjin Key Medical Discipline (Specialty) Construction Project (grant number TJYXZDXK-001A to C.Y.), Tianjin Natural Science Foundation (grant number 19JCYBJC25100 to W.Q.), Tianjin Young Talents in Science and Technology (grant number QN20230336 to J.X.) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number 2023M742623 to N.L.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
Author information
Author notes
These authors contributed equally: Jie Tang, Jing Zhang, Wei Li.
Authors and Affiliations
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging and State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
Jie Tang, Wen Qin, Feng Liu, Sijia Wang, Qiang Xu, Jiayuan Xu, Jilian Fu, Yuan Ji, Nana Liu, Chunshui Yu, Junping Wang, Xue Zhang, Xinjun Suo, Congcong Yuan, Hui Xue, Tianying Gao, Junpeng Liu, Yanjun Li, Xi Guo, Lixue Xu, Jiajia Zhu, Huaigui Liu, Fangshi Zhao, Jie Sun, Yongjie Xu, Huanhuan Cai, Yaodan Zhang, Yongqin Xiong, Xianting Sun, Nannan Pan, Xue Zhang Jr, Jiayang Yang, Ya Wen, Dan Zhu, Bingjie Wu, Wenshuang Zhu, Qingqing Diao, Yujuan Cao, Bingbing Yang, Lining Guo, Yingying Xie, Jiahui Lin, Zhimin Li, Yan Zhang, Kaizhong Xue, Zirui Wang & Junlin Shen
Gansu Province Clinical Research Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging, Lanzhou, China
Jing Zhang
Department of Magnetic Resonance, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, China
Jing Zhang, Jing Zhang, Guangyao Liu & Laiyang Ma
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China
Wei Li, Peng Zhang & Zhaoxiang Ye
Department of Radiology, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital and Zhengzhou University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
Meiyun Wang, Dapeng Shi, Lun Ma, Yan Bai, Min Guan & Wei Wei
Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Jingliang Cheng, Caihong Wang, Peifang Miao, Fuhong Duan, Yafei Guo & Weijian Wang
Department of Radiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Bing Zhang, Zhao Qing, Sichu Wu, Junxia Wang, Yi Sun & Yang He
Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Wenzhen Zhu & Tian Tian
Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
Shijun Qiu, Yi Liang, Yujie Liu, Hui Zeng & Jingxian Chen
Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province and Department of Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, China
Guangbin Cui, Wen Wang, Linfeng Yan, Yang Yang & Jin Zhang
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
Yongqiang Yu, Xiaohu Li & Xiaoshu Li
Molecular Imaging Research Center of Central South University, Changsha, China
Weihua Liao & Weihua Liao
National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
Weihua Liao & Weihua Liao
Department of Radiology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
Weihua Liao, Weihua Liao, Shuai Yang & Youming Zhang
Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
Hui Zhang, Xiaochun Wang & Ying Lei
Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China
Bo Gao
Department of Radiology, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, China
Bo Gao, Bo Gao, Gang Zhang & Kang Yuan
Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Xiaojun Xu, Jingjing Xu & Xiaojun Guan
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
Yunjun Yang, Jiance Li & Nengzhi Xia
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, China
Tong Han, Jun Guo & Hao Lu
Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Zhenwei Yao & Yue Wu
Department of Radiology, Characteristic Medical Center of Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China
Quan Zhang, Quan Zhang & Fei Yuan
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
Meng Liang, Chunshui Yu, Xuejun Zhang, Hao Ding & Qian Su
Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Su Lui
Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
Zhihan Yan, Yuchuan Fu & Yi Lu
Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, China
Feng Chen, Yuankai Lin & Hui Juan Chen
Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Center Hospital, Tianjin, China
Wen Shen, Miaomiao Long & Lihua Liu
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
Yanwei Miao, Weiwei Wang & Yujing Zhou
Department of Radiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
Dawei Wang, Li Hu & Jizhen Li
Department of Radiology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Junfang Xian, Qian Wang, Xiaoxia Qu & Ying Wang
Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Xiaochu Zhang, Rujing Zha, Ying Li, Lizhuang Yang, Ying Chen & Ling Zuo
Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
Kai Xu, Haitao Ge, Peng Xu, Cailuan Lu, Chen Wu & Xiaoying Yang
Developmental Population Neuroscience Research Center, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Xi-Nian Zuo & Xi-Nian Zuo
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Xi-Nian Zuo, Xi-Nian Zuo, Zhe Zhang, Yin-Shan Wang & Quan Zhou
Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Longjiang Zhang, Long Jiang Zhang, Lijuan Zheng, Lilin, Yunfei Wang, Han Zhang & Xinyuan Zhang
Department of Medical Imaging, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
Zuojun Geng, Yuzhao Wang, Yankai Wu, Xuran Feng, Ling Li & Duo Gao
Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jia-Hong Gao, Jianqiao Ge & Guoyuan Yang
Beijing City Key Lab for Medical Physics and Engineering, Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jia-Hong Gao
PKU–IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jia-Hong Gao
National Biomedical Imaging Center, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jia-Hong Gao
Department of Bioinformatics, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
Mulin Jun Li & Shijie Zhang
Authors
Jie Tang
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2. Jing Zhang
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3. Wei Li
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4. Meiyun Wang
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5. Jingliang Cheng
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6. Bing Zhang
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7. Wenzhen Zhu
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8. Shijun Qiu
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9. Guangbin Cui
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10. Yongqiang Yu
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11. Weihua Liao
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12. Hui Zhang
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13. Bo Gao
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14. Xiaojun Xu
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15. Yunjun Yang
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16. Tong Han
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17. Zhenwei Yao
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18. Quan Zhang
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19. Wen Qin
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20. Feng Liu
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21. Meng Liang
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22. Sijia Wang
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23. Qiang Xu
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24. Jiayuan Xu
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25. Jilian Fu
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26. Yuan Ji
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27. Nana Liu
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28. Peng Zhang
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29. Dapeng Shi
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30. Caihong Wang
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31. Su Lui
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32. Zhihan Yan
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33. Feng Chen
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34. Wen Shen
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35. Yanwei Miao
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36. Dawei Wang
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37. Junfang Xian
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38. Xiaochu Zhang
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39. Kai Xu
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40. Xi-Nian Zuo
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41. Longjiang Zhang
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42. Zhaoxiang Ye
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43. Zuojun Geng
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44. Jia-Hong Gao
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45. Chunshui Yu
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Consortia
The CHIMGEN Consortium
Chunshui Yu
, Quan Zhang
, Wen Qin
, Feng Liu
, Junping Wang
, Qiang Xu
, Jiayuan Xu
, Xue Zhang
, Xinjun Suo
, Jilian Fu
, Congcong Yuan
, Yuan Ji
, Hui Xue
, Tianying Gao
, Junpeng Liu
, Yanjun Li
, Xi Guo
, Lixue Xu
, Jiajia Zhu
, Huaigui Liu
, Fangshi Zhao
, Jie Sun
, Yongjie Xu
, Huanhuan Cai
, Jie Tang
, Yaodan Zhang
, Yongqin Xiong
, Xianting Sun
, Nannan Pan
, Xue Zhang Jr
, Jiayang Yang
, Nana Liu
, Ya Wen
, Dan Zhu
, Bingjie Wu
, Wenshuang Zhu
, Qingqing Diao
, Yujuan Cao
, Bingbing Yang
, Lining Guo
, Yingying Xie
, Jiahui Lin
, Zhimin Li
, Yan Zhang
, Kaizhong Xue
, Zirui Wang
, Junlin Shen
, Meng Liang
, Xuejun Zhang
, Hao Ding
, Qian Su
, Mulin Jun Li
, Shijie Zhang
, Zhaoxiang Ye
, Peng Zhang
, Wei Li
, Meiyun Wang
, Dapeng Shi
, Lun Ma
, Yan Bai
, Min Guan
, Wei Wei
, Jingliang Cheng
, Caihong Wang
, Peifang Miao
, Fuhong Duan
, Yafei Guo
, Weijian Wang
, Long Jiang Zhang
, Lijuan Zheng
, Lilin
, Yunfei Wang
, Han Zhang
, Xinyuan Zhang
, Bing Zhang
, Zhao Qing
, Sichu Wu
, Junxia Wang
, Yi Sun
, Yang He
, Xi-Nian Zuo
, Zhe Zhang
, Yin-Shan Wang
, Quan Zhou
, Wenzhen Zhu
, Tian Tian
, Shijun Qiu
, Yi Liang
, Yujie Liu
, Hui Zeng
, Jingxian Chen
, Kai Xu
, Haitao Ge
, Peng Xu
, Cailuan Lu
, Chen Wu
, Xiaoying Yang
, Zuojun Geng
, Yuzhao Wang
, Yankai Wu
, Xuran Feng
, Ling Li
, Duo Gao
, Xiaochu Zhang
, Rujing Zha
, Ying Li
, Lizhuang Yang
, Ying Chen
, Ling Zuo
, Jia-Hong Gao
, Jianqiao Ge
, Guoyuan Yang
, Guangbin Cui
, Wen Wang
, Linfeng Yan
, Yang Yang
, Jin Zhang
, Junfang Xian
, Qian Wang
, Xiaoxia Qu
, Ying Wang
, Quan Zhang
, Fei Yuan
, Dawei Wang
, Li Hu
, Jizhen Li
, Yanwei Miao
, Weiwei Wang
, Yujing Zhou
, Wen Shen
, Miaomiao Long
, Lihua Liu
, Yongqiang Yu
, Xiaohu Li
, Xiaoshu Li
, Jiance Li
, Yunjun Yang
, Nengzhi Xia
, Weihua Liao
, Shuai Yang
, Youming Zhang
, Jing Zhang
, Guangyao Liu
, Laiyang Ma
, Hui Zhang
, Xiaochun Wang
, Ying Lei
, Bo Gao
, Gang Zhang
, Kang Yuan
, Xiaojun Xu
, Jingjing Xu
, Xiaojun Guan
, Feng Chen
, Yuankai Lin
, Hui Juan Chen
, Zhihan Yan
, Yuchuan Fu
, Yi Lu
, Tong Han
, Jun Guo
, Hao Lu
, Zhenwei Yao
, Yue Wu
& Su Lui
Contributions
C. Yu., J.T., Jing Zhang., Z.G., W. Li., W.Q. and M.W. designed the study. C. Yu., J.-H.G., Jiayuan Xu., Z.G., J.T. and W. Li. were the principal investigators. C. Yu., J.T., J.-H.G., Z.G. and Jing Zhang. wrote the paper. All authors critically reviewed the paper. J.T., J.-H.G., B.Z., Wenzhen Zhu., S.Q., G.C., Yunjun Y., W. Li., Hui Zhang., B.G., X.X., Y.Y., T.H., Z. Yan., Q.Z., F.L., M.L., S.W., Q.X., Jiayuan Xu., J.F., Y.J., N.L., P.Z., D.S., C.W., S.L., Z. Ye., F.C., W.S., M.W., D.W., Jiayuan Xu., Xiaochu Zhang., K. Xu., X.-N.Z., Long Jiang Zhang and Z. Yao. acquired the data. C. Yu., J.-H.G. and Z.G. supervised this work.
Corresponding authors
Correspondence to Zuojun Geng, Jia-Hong Gao or Chunshui Yu.
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Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Human Behaviour thanks Toni Falbo, Charles Nelson, Jingxin Nie, Jing Yu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.
Additional information
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Extended data
Extended Data Table 1 Brain clusters with significant differences in GMV or ReHo between OC and non-OC in voxel-wise neuroimaging analyses
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 PEE factor differences between OC and non-OC
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 The associations of GWoS with IDPs and behaviors after controlling for 5 PEE factors and 17 covariates using multiple regression analyses
Full size table
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figs. 1–10 and Tables 1, 6, 8, 11 and 15–17.
Reporting Summary
Peer Review File
Supplementary Tables 2–5, 7, 9, 10 and 12–14
Supplementary Tables 2–5, 7, 9, 10 and 12–14.
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Cite this article
Tang, J., Zhang, J., Li, W. et al. How growing up without siblings affects the adult brain and behaviour in the CHIMGEN cohort. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02142-4
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Received:09 December 2023
Accepted:18 February 2025
Published:31 March 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02142-4
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