The 28th International Psychology Congress held in Beijing from August 8 to 13, 2004, revealed that 20 percent of Chinese children suffer from depression and that 4 percent are clinically depressed. Chinese children are far less inclined to smile than their American cousins.

Zhao Bing, a consultant on children's education at the Tianjin Children's Hospital, puts this down to parental over-expectations of single offspring. Chinese parents lay such store on their children's studies that they neglect other aspects of life-skills such as how to take a bath, dress and socially interact.

Parental anxiety that is rooted in "keeping up with the Joneses" type social pressure transfers to children, causing behavioral manifestations of defiance, irritability, emotional volatility, and aggressiveness.