Is 'Only-Child Syndrome' Behind Octuplets?

Feb. 5, 2009— -- The 9-day-old octuplets of a California woman are all now breathing on their own. But as Nadya Suleman's babies continue to grow stronger and healthier, questions remain about what led the 33-year-old woman -- now the mother of 14 -- to have so many children in the first place.

Angela Suleman, the octuplets' grandmother, told US Weekly magazine this week that she strongly believes her daughter's status as an only child played a role.

"She always blamed me for only having her," Angela Suleman said. "She was a single child. ... She was always upset I didn't have more. ... She always wanted a lot of kids."

Nadya Suleman's reticence so far to talk to the media has made it difficult to confirm this motive; interview requests from ABCNews.com sent through her agent were not immediately returned. But Diane Sanford, president and co-developer of the clinical and consulting group Women's Healthcare Partnership, told "Good Morning America" today that it stood to reason that some "onlies" who believe they missed out on siblings might want to have a big family themselves.

"I certainly think that if you grow up as an only child, that you would want to compensate by having more children, with the closeness and the affiliation," she said.

Nadine Kaslow, chief psychologist at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and a professor at Emory University's School of Medicine, agreed that being an only child could have been a contributor in this situation.

"Some of them really, really want a sibling," she said. "They feel really lonely and isolated. ... Maybe that was one variable in this woman's story."

Still, while so-called only child syndrome might have been a possible factor in Nadya Suleman's decision, Kaslow said, it is probably just part of the picture.

"It is obvious that there are multiple factors that contributed to this, so we wouldn't want to get overly fixated on any one variable," she said. "This is probably a small part. Not an insignificant part, but a small part."