Only Child

Sifford writes a nationally syndicated column, a fact that may attract a wide audience to his book on life without siblings. Although it is quite different from Ellen Peck's The Joy of the Only Child , the text doesn't add substantially to information on the subject. Sifford reports what he learned from interviews with only children and their intimates, but is, in fact, ambivalent about his own experiences as the single apple of the parental eye. One child with no competition for parents' love may be secure, an exceptional achiever, happy and well-adjusted, while growing up and as an adult. Another may be driven to succeed, egocentric, perfectionist, spoiled and full of longing for a brother or sister sibling as a companion or to share troubles when things go wrong. Readers are likely to conclude that there's not much difference between an only chld and one with a sibling when it comes to capabilities, faults, virtues and other human characteristics. (Jan.)