The purpose of this study was to investigate the personality characteristics of only child adolescents in China, in comparison with those who were not a only child, and in relation to perceived rearing attitudes of their parents. A total of 413 high school and college students in China, 255 only child and 158 non-only child, completed Yatabe-Guilford Personality Inventory and a diagnostic test of parent-child relationship. Main findings were as follows: (l) Only child adolescents were higher on social extroversion and lower on cyclic tendency of Y-G personality traits than the non-only child. (2) Factor analysis extracted four factors for perceived parental rearing attitudes: control, obedience, expectancy-interference, and child-centered. (3) Multiple regression analysis found a number of significant relationships between personality traits of the only child and perceived parental rearing attitudes. It was suggested, unlike previous studies, that higher social extroversion and lower cyclic tendency of the only child, personality that appeared rather adaptive, were related to the parental rearing attitude of control or obedience. These findings were discussed from the viewpoints of educational circumstances and parental expectancies under China's single child policy.

Key words: only child in China, high school and college students, Y-G personality traits, perceived parental rearing attitudes