Bidirectional Links Between Sibling Aggression and Victimization

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research evaluating the deleterious effects of negative sibling dynamics has been limited, likely due to social acceptance of sibling conflict. This is a notable omission in the literature, as siblings play a major role in youth development. The current study sought to advance the literature by longitudinally examining the bidirectional links between sibling aggression and victimization. Further, anger dysregulation was examined as a potential moderator of these links. Youth (n = 323, M = 9.28 years; 55% male) completed measures at baseline and 6 months later. Sibling reactive, not proactive, aggression was associated with increases in both sibling physical and relational victimization. There were marginally statistically significant trends for sibling relational victimization to be associated with increases in sibling reactive aggression and for sibling physical victimization to be associated with decreases in sibling proactive aggression. No moderating effects of anger dysregulation were evident. Consistent with the peer relationship literature, results clearly indicate that reactive aggression toward sibling puts youth at increased risk for victimization from siblings, suggesting that reactive aggression among siblings is one target of prevention to reduce risk for subsequent victimization. Thus, aggression and victimization among siblings is important to address.