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Toni Falbo (born 1947) is a social psychologist known for her research on power dynamics in relationships, sibling status, and development of only children. She is a professor of
Educational Psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology, behavioral perspectives, allows researc ...
and Faculty Research Affiliate of the Population Research Center at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
. In 2007, Falbo received the Newman-Proshansky Career Achievement Award from the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...
(APA) (Division 34). This award is offered annually to recognize significant lifetime contributions to the fields of environmental and population psychology. Falbo is a Fellow of APA Division 9, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and APA Division 35, Society for the Psychology of Women. She has served terms as President of the Society for Environmental, Population and Conservation Psychology (APA Division 34) and the Southwestern Psychological Association. Falbo and Harriett Romo co-authored the book ''Latino high school graduation: Defying the odds''. Falbo is editor of the volume ''The Single-Child Family.''


Biography

Falbo received her B.A. degree in psychology at George Washington University in 1968. She received her M.A degree in psychology and PhD in
Social Psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...
at
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
, Los Angeles in 1969 and 1973, respectively. Falbo early work examined kindergarten children's attributions about academic achievement. After holding positions at California State University, Long Beach and Wake Forest University, Falbo joined the faculty of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1976. Falbo began studying the development of only children in the 1970s. She was drawn to this topic as an only child and the mother of an only child. Her research has been funded through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
, and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.


Research

Much of Falbo's research has focused on the psychological and social outcomes of small families, with an emphasis on sibling status effects on children's development and educational attainment. Other widely cited research has examined power dynamics and strategies in interpersonal relationships and parental strategies associated with high school students' success. Falbo conducted extensive research examining effects of China's
one-child policy The one-child policy ( zh, c=一孩政策, p=yī hái zhèngcè) was a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1979 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. The progr ...
on the personalities of Chinese children and adults. Falbo aimed to determine whether China's one-child policy influenced children's academic, physical, social, and personality traits. In a synthesis of 22 studies of psychopathology among Chinese only children, Falbo and her colleague Sophia Hooper reported that only children felt more pressure and dealt with higher expectations from their parents than their peers with siblings. Falbo and her colleague Denise Polit conducted a series of meta-analyses of over 100 studies of only children that considered developmental outcomes in adjustment, character, sociability, achievement, and intelligence. The studies included in the meta-analyses were mainly from the U.S. and Canada, yet were diverse with respect to socioeconomic class and race/ethnicity. The authors found no evidence in support of the stereotype that only children are lonely, selfish, and maladjusted. Rather, only children tended to score higher on tests of verbal ability and intelligence than children with siblings (with the exception of firstborns who scored comparably to only children). Only children and firstborns also showed higher achievement (i.e., academic performance, educational attainment, occupational prestige) than children with older siblings. Falbo also found that only children surpassed children in large families in the quality of their relationships with parents. Other work, which including children from China as well as the U.S., indicate advantages of older children with regards to character development (autonomy, maturity, leadership). Another study examined whether the presence of siblings promoted health over the lifespan. Falbo and her colleagues examined the health status of a large sample middle age adults from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Using data from almost 4000 individuals (high school graduates of the class of 1957), the researchers found no effect of sibling status on health outcomes. Instead, they found evidence that better health was associated with having higher educational attainment and higher socioeconomic status.


Representative Publications

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References


External links


Faculty page

Falbo lab
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falbo, Toni American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists American educational psychologists University of Texas at Austin faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Living people 1947 births 20th-century American psychologists