First and foremost, this policy leads to the 4-2-1 problem. If two generations have only one child, for every 4 grandparents and 2 parents, there is only one child. This child presumably becomes responsible for taking care of all the elderly in the family, placing a great burden on them to do well academically and to find a well-paying job. To relieve this burden, some calls have been made for increasing the social safety net for senior citizens.
Conversely, since a family's hope for carrying on their honor becomes vested in only one child, the phenomenon of "little emperors" has been well-documented. Some Chinese children become spoiled since both parents and sets of grandparents shower them with attention, if not money, and cater to all their needs. At least from the panel, this phenomenon didn't seem to be as great a problem as the burden mentioned above and the loneliness mentioned below.
Without siblings or cousins (assuming both parents are also only children), the panelists said they became quite attached to their school friends or parents/grandparents. A couple panelists did have cousins since their families originated in rural China so they considered themselves lucky. Nearly all six panelists said they were lonely in some sense, but I'm not sure what that means or how to compare American and Chinese levels of loneliness. However, it is noteworthy since I would never say I'm lonely to a group of foreign students so I'm assuming loneliness rears it head more often in their lives. The girls on the panel said they always wished for an older brother, someone who could protect them. From their description, it almost sounded like they were describing a husband and I've never heard American girls talk of a similar idea so I'm not sure why having a strong older brother would be so important for them.
I'm sure there are many social effects of the one-child policy, not only in terms of daily life but also in terms of personality development and social norms. From the panelists' voices and body language, you could tangibly feel a sense of regret, of loneliness. They certainly have school friends, all of whom are in a similar position, so it's not an isolated struggle, but it's quite sad (that's the only word that fully seems to capture my reaction). I personally can't imagine spending all my time at home without my sister, going on vacations with only my parents, not having cousins who play pranks on me and teach me how to grow up, etc.
I'm not criticizing the Chinese government. If I was in their position with a burgeoning population in the late 1970s and even today with inadequate resources to feed, house, and employ all of them, I would probably make the same decision. Many online descriptions of the one-child policy's social effects seems to have political criticism veiled in their words. However, the two aspects of the policy should be viewed distinctly - even if you accept its political necessity, you can still sympathize with some of its social effects, which is my position.
Of course, some positive social effects probably come out of the policy as well. The panelists didn't mention them, but rural families can probably invest more in the success of one child versus many children (a continuing problem in India), children probably have a more developed sense of respect for their parents, etc. I don't want to pinhole the policy as politically necessary, socially bad. It impacts every aspect of China's demographics, economy, society, etc. so I'm sure it has many effects, which would be impossible to measure and to weigh definitively.
However, it is an interesting thought exercise to imagine that you and everybody you know is an only child. After you get over the initial sense of liberation from your siblings, think about the amount of time, memories, conflicts, effects on personality, emotions (both good and bad) shared with them. I'm not sure what life would look like, but I'm sure it would look a whole lot different.
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