BACKGROUND: In January, View reported that more...

BACKGROUND: In January, View reported that more parents are opting to have only one child. By the end of the century, 25% of households will be one-child families. The trend may be bolstered by studies showing that only children have advantages over children with siblings.

UPDATE: According to a new medical study, only children may be more likely to suffer from high blood pressure. Researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo and UC Berkeley studied a large group of adults and found a higher incidence of hypertension among men and women without siblings. In male only children, the risk of hypertension doubled; for females, the risk increased about 25%. The researchers can only speculate why. But physical factors might be related to the increased risk: The only children in this study were also more likely to be smokers.