What Was China's One Kid Per Family Policy's Impact?
这一结论来自于发表在《科学》杂志上的调查报告。这份报告由莫纳什大学的Lisa Camero、Lata Gangadharan两位教授及澳大利亚国立大学的Xin Meng教授、墨尔本大学的Nisvan Erkal副教授共同完成。
14 Jan 2013
在报告中，计划生育政策被认为是经济策略指导下的政策行为，并依据是否在此政策实施前出生将作为调查个体的中国人分作两类，对其行为特征进行比较并分析结果。计划生育政策的正式推行方便研究者们区分调查个体中的自发及受政策影响的独生子女。这一报告的调查范围包括400多名中国人。
China's somewhat drastic imposition of its One Child Policy (OCP) - which was brought in to control the country's ever-increasing population problem - is thought to have had some serious effects on the characteristics of its people, making them less competitive, less trustworthy and overall less conscientious.
行为特征上的显著差异
The finding comes from research carried out and published in Science by Professors Lisa Cameron and Lata Gangadharan from Monash University, Professor Xin Meng from the Australian National University (ANU) and Associate Professor Nisvan Erkal from the University of Melbourne.
通过两组人群的多方面对比，调查组得以分离出作为独生子女抚养长大对整体行为的影响。对比结果表明，在独生子女政策颁布之后的独生子女调查个体，他们的举止更多表现出不思进取、安于现状、粗心大意、可信度低、悲观消极等特点。
They compared the behaviors of Chinese individuals born before and after the OCP was adopted by conducting an array of economic games and analyzing the results. The OCP allowed the researchers to isolate people who grew up as only-children but would have had siblings if the policy change had not been introduced. A little over 400 individuals were included.
在来自莫纳什经济发展中心的卡梅伦教授看来，无论这些独生子女和其他孩子，比方说他们的玩伴，接触得多么频繁，这些影响依然十分显著。
Significant differences found in behavioral characteristics
“我们发现，无论是与同辈孩子的频繁来往还是加入托儿所，在童年时期再怎么增加与同龄人交往的机会都无法替代兄弟姐妹在成长过程中的作用。我们手头有些证据可证明父母能通过鼓励前社会化的价值生成来影响孩子们的举止。”
Through making extensive comparisons between the two groups they were able to isolate the effect that being brought up as a single child has on overall behavior. Results showed that individuals who were born after the OCP - as an only child - demonstrated characteristics of being less competitive, more risk averse, less conscientious, less trustworthy and more pessimistic.
他们竭力从每个方面寻找可能影响最终结果的因素，比如参与者出生的时代背景差异、参与者的年龄等等。尽管如此，他们还是认为所有的行为差异最终都能在计划生育政策上得到最好的解释。
According to Professor Cameron, of the Monash Centre for Development Economics, the effects were apparent regardless of how much contact the subjects had with other children, such as their social peers:
创业精神的消退
They considered a whole range of different factors that could have influenced the results, such as differences in the era that the participants were born, and age, although they conclude that the differences ultimately is best explained as being a result of the OCP.
这一经济上的现象是由卡梅隆教授发现的：
The economic implications were explored by Professor Cameron:
“我们的调查数据显示，计划生育政策推行之后出生的一代人不太愿意选择诸如自主创业这一类高风险的职业。因此，中国未来很可能面对创业精神消退的风险。”
The OCP - limiting one child per family - was introduced in 1979 as a means of alleviating the social and economic difficulties that China was experiencing. As a result, since its introduction, around 400 million births have been prevented.
计划生育政策（即严格控制每户只能生育一个孩子）在1979年是作为缓解当时中国面临的社会经济双重压力的手段而推行的。自其推行以来，中国减少了大约4亿人口。
In 2007 over 30 delegates at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference called for it to be completely abolished, blaming it for causing social problems and personality disorders in young people. Yet, behavioral changes aren't the only problems associated with the OCP that worry politicians - also the increasing disparity in the birth ratio between boys and girls, which is proving to be the most critical demographic problem the country has ever had.
在2007年的中国政治协商会议上，超过30名代表呼吁彻底废除计划生育政策。他们指责计划生育政策导致了种种社会问题及年轻一代的人格缺陷。然而，与计划生育政策联系在一起的行为变化并非是困扰政治人物们的唯一因素。使他们担心的还有男女婴儿出生率间的悬殊差距，这逐渐显现为该国遇到过的最为紧要的人口问题。
It's been reported that this radical means of population control is going to have to be reviewed by Chinese officials, considering the growing number of problems that have been associated with its introduction.
据报道，中国的官员将重新审视这一激进的人口控制手段。自其推行以来不断增加的种种问题使得政府无法再坐视不管。
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