Sibling Conflict Research Articles

Perspectives on self and other in children’s representations of sibling conflict

Seventy-six siblings (3–9 years) were individually interviewed concerning their recent conflicts. Analyses compared goals, requests, and voluntary actions attributed to self and other. Children were adept at describing both own and others’ goals, requests, and actions, and these formed coherent hierarchies in which overarching explicit goals motivated actions and requests attributed to each protagonist. Children also recognised the basic opposition between antagonists’ goals. A majority of explicitly stated goals matched those attributed by both narrators to the same sibling, an agreement rate exceeding that found for requests or actions. Older siblings also focused more on goals of others; their accounts contained more spontaneous explicit goals of others and more complex goal hierarchies for others in comparison both to their reports for self and to the reports of their younger counterparts. The discussion emphasises the development and importance of understanding others’ perspectives on interpersonal conflict.

Young Children's Personal Accounts of Their Sibling Disputes

We investigated children's personal representations of significant sibling conflicts. Forty pairs of siblings were interviewed separately about the same disputes. Although they described the same episodes, both older (M age = 7.0) and younger (M age = 4.4) siblings ascribed more serious transgressions to their opponents than to themselves. They also justified and denied their own severe transgressions more frequently than their siblings' offenses. Overall, children were systematically biased in favor of their own innocence, and older siblings were more self-serving in their use of justifications than their younger siblings. The number and complexity of justifications increased with siblings' age, whereas denials were more frequently relied upon by younger siblings. It is suggested that investigations of children's unique conflict representations represent an important complement to observational studies of sibling conflict.

Shading the Truth: Self-Serving Biases in Children's Reports of Sibling Conflicts

Siblings between 4 1/2 and 9 1/2 were interviewed concerning positive and negative actions of self or sibling that either did or did not occur in past conflicts, and then asked to describe these disputes. Children evidenced self-serving biases, ascribing positive actions to themselves more than to their siblings. Additionally, younger siblings denied their negative actions. Older siblings admitted to, but spontaneously explained, their negative actions; they also excluded such actions from their narratives. Moreover, differences between children's accurate and inaccurate responses (in latencies to respond, integration of actions in narratives, and explanations for actions that did or did not occur) suggest that children's attempts to manage the impressions they make on others contribute to biased reports of past conflicts.

Sibling differentiation: sibling and parent relationship trajectories in adolescence.

Studied here were the links between sibling differences in trajectories of change in the qualities of parent-child relationships and the qualities of sibling relationships across a 2-year period in adolescence. Participants were first- and second-born siblings (M age = 14.94 years for firstborns and M age = 12.46 years for secondborns) from 185 predominantly White, working and middle-class families. In home interviews, siblings reported on their dyadic family relationships. For reports of parent-child warmth but not parent-child conflict, results were consistent with sibling differentiation theory: Increasing differences between siblings over time in parent-child warmth were linked to trajectories of increasing warmth and decreasing conflict in the sibling relationship as reported by firstborns, and increasing warmth in the sibling relationship as reported by secondborns. The findings support the view that sibling differentiation may be a strategy for managing sibling conflict and rivalry.

Young Persons' Perspectives on the Influence of Family Transitions on Sibling Relationships

This exploratory study examines young persons' perceptions of sibling relationships in the context of parental divorce experienced during childhood. Thirty undergraduate participants (17-24 years) were interviewed individually (Adult & Divorce Sibling Relationship Interview) to describe sibling relationships now, before, during, and after parental separation. A grounded theory analysis revealed seven qualitative themes. A subsequent content analysis examined the frequencies of these psychosocial themes in interview protocols together with participant characteristics (gender, age now and at time of parents' separation, sibling dyad, custody arrangement). Consistent with behaviourally-oriented quantitative results, some participants reported increased sibling conflict post-separation, but this was typically considered short-lived and tied to more permanent feelings of sibling closeness following from experiencing their parents' divorces together.

Sibling conflict and theory of mind

This study examined conflicts between siblings in an attempt to identify variables that are related to false-belief understanding. The variables investigated were children's use of mental state terms and specific types of arguments (Slomkowski & Dunn, 1992) that occurred during conflict episodes. Twenty-two children between 3 and 5 years of age were administered eight false-belief tasks and were also videotaped while playing with an older sibling. Use of other-oriented arguments by the target child was significantly associated with success on false-belief tasks after controlling for age and general language ability. No use of argument was negatively related to performance on the false-belief tasks after controlling for age and general language ability. Neither the use of self-oriented arguments nor use of mental state terms was found to be associated with false-belief performance. The findings indicate that specific features of sibling conflicts are related to children's developing false-belief understanding.

Sibling Conflict in Middle Childhood: Influence of Maternal Context and Mother-Sibling Interaction over Four Years

Two issues relevant to relationships models of development were investigated: (1) the influence of maternal context (present, absent) on frequency and types of conflicts of 24 sibling dyads in middle childhood and (2) the stability of maternal and sibling interaction over four years. Maternal presence depressed conflict frequency and aggression; in maternal absence, siblings disagreed about abstract (i.e., procedures/play plans) and concrete (i.e., object) issues and used relatively sophisticated resolutions. Longitudinal findings revealed that earlier patterns of family interaction were related to later indices of sibling conflict and maternal interaction. Specifically, (1) earlier rates of sibling play and hostile interaction were related to sibling conflicts, (2) greater maternal interaction was associated with later sibling conflict, and (3) greater sibling interaction was related to less maternal interaction over time. Findings are discussed in light of recent literature on sibling conflict and the development of social understanding within the context of close relationships.

Sibling Conflict Triggered by a Mother's Pending Death

Sibling Conflict Triggered by a Mother's Pending Death

Sibling conflict in middle childhood predicts children's adjustment in early adolescence.

Sibling conflict in middle childhood predicts children's adjustment in early adolescence.

Sibling conflict in middle childhood predicts children's adjustment in early adolescence.

Associations between sibling conflict in middle childhood and psychological adjustment in early adolescence were studied in a sample of 80 boys and 56 girls. Parents and children provided self-report data about family relationships and children's adjustment. Parents' hostility to children was assessed from videotaped interactions. Results showed that sibling conflict at Time 1 predicted increases in children's anxiety, depressed mood, and delinquent behavior 2 years later. Moreover, earlier sibling conflict at Time 1 accounted for unique variance in young adolescents' Time 2 anxiety, depressed mood, and delinquent behavior above and beyond the variance explained by earlier maternal hostility and marital conflict. Children's adjustment at Time 1 did not predict sibling conflict at Time 2. Results highlight the unique significance of the earlier sibling relationship for young adolescents' psychological adjustment.

Role of kin and nonkin support in the mental health of low-income women.

Data from the Worcester Family Research Project were analyzed to determine whether social support processes are altered by poverty and whether kin and nonkin support are differentially related to mental health in low-income mothers. The authors found that conflict with family and friends predicted adverse mental health and more strongly predicted these outcomes than emotional and instrumental support. Moreover, sibling conflict was a stronger predictor of mental health than parent conflict. Finally, only instrumental support from professionals predicted mental health.

"No! The lambs can stay out because they got cozies": constructive and destructive sibling conflict, pretend play, and social understanding.

Associations among constructive and destructive sibling conflict, pretend play, internal state language, and sibling relationship quality were investigated in 40 middle-class dyads with a kindergarten-age child (M age = 5.7 years). In 20 dyads the sibling was older (M age = 7.1 years) and in 20 dyads the sibling was younger (M age = 3.6 years). Dyads were videotaped playing with a farm set for 15 min; transcribed sessions were coded for (1) five types of conflict issues; (2) constructive, destructive, and passive resolution strategies; and (3) verbal and physical aggression. Measures of pretend play enactment, low- and high-level pretense negotiation strategies, and internal state language were also based on the transcripts. The Sibling Behavior and Feelings Questionnaire was used to assess both siblings' perceptions of sibling relationship quality. Findings revealed that conflict issues, aggression, and internal state language were associated with specific resolution strategies. Associations were evident between conflict issues and resolutions. Moreover, conflict issues and resolutions were associated with (1) relationship quality, (2) high-level pretense negotiation, and (3) internal state language employed in both play and conflict. Findings are discussed in light of recent theory on developmental processes operating within children's relationships.

Adult sibling expressed emotion and fellow sibling deviance: a new piece of the family process puzzle.

Seventy-three older siblings were assessed in early adulthood with the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) measure of expressed emotion. Sibling critical expressed emotion was linked with younger brother concomitant and future antisocial behavior, substance use, deviant peer association, increased rate of criminal arrests, and early onset sexual activity. Siblings of younger brothers with behavior problems were also more likely to be critical of, and to report negative relationships with, these brothers than were siblings of well-adjusted brothers. Sibling critical expressed emotion also predicted younger brothers' maladjustment 1-2 years later, after controlling for earlier sibling conflict and parent discipline. The findings accentuate the importance of understanding the influence of intrafamilial processes in the etiology of behavior problems.

Adult sibling expressed emotion and fellow sibling deviance: A new piece of the family process puzzle.

Seventy-three older siblings were assessed in early adulthood with the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) measure of expressed emotion. Sibling critical expressed emotion was linked with younger brother concomitant and future antisocial behavior, substance use, deviant peer association, increased rate of criminal arrests, and early onset sexual activity. Siblings of younger brothers with behavior problems were also more likely to be critical of, and to report negative relationships with, these brothers than were siblings of well-adjusted brothers. Sibling critical expressed emotion also predicted younger brothers' maladjustment 1-2 years later, after controlling for earlier sibling conflict and parent disciplines. The findings accentuate the importance of understanding the influence of intrafamilial processes in the etiology of behavior problems.

Resolving middle‐age sibling conflict regarding parent care

AbstractMiddle‐age children are and will continue to be confronted with parent care decisions. It is inevitable that siblings experience varying degrees of conflict when making these decisions, as exemplified in the four case studies outlined in this article. The potential benefits and limitations of family mediation as a means of resolving such conflicts are discussed.

Sibling Socialization of Competence in Rural, Single‐Parent African American Families

Older siblings' contributions to younger siblings' competence net of parenting processes were examined with 152 pairs of first‐born (M= 11.7 years) and second‐born (M= 9.2 years) siblings in rural, single‐parent African American families. The possible moderational effect of sibling conflict on the association between older and younger siblings' competence was also examined. Mothers reported their parenting practices, teachers assessed siblings' competence, and older siblings reported sibling conflict levels. Structural equation modeling indicated that parenting was linked with older siblings' competence, which in turn was linked with competence among younger siblings. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that older and younger siblings' competencies were linked when sibling relationships included low levels of conflict.

Adult Children Taking Care of Their Aging Parents: A Multiple-Case Study on Caregivers' Perspectives

This qualitative study with eight adult children providing care to their aging parents revealed four major themes: family or family network served as the major mode of elderly care, the arrangement of elderly care engendering sibling conflicts, elderly's preference for independent household, and finally, a need for organised social service programmes for the elderly to supplement the current model of family care for their elderly members.

Parental Marital Conflict in Childhood<br />and Influence on Adult Sibling Relationships

The purpose of this study was to investigate the separate effects of parental marital disharmony and family intactness on the adult sibling relationship. The sample included 182 men and women between the ages of 22 and 58. The results indicated that perceptions of parental marital disharmony in childhood are related more than family intactness to sibling conflict and warmth. Participants who reported lower self-esteem, perceived their parents' marriage as more disharmonious than participants who reported higher self-esteem. Moreover, parental marital disharmony was the only significant predictor of diminished self-esteem. Participants were asked to answer questions which involved recalling memories from their childhood, specifically about their sibling relationship and perceptions of their parents' relationships. For siblings who perceived less parental affection in childhood as compared to their sibling, more rivalrous feelings were reported in their adult sibling relationship. These findings highlight the important implications for understanding an individual's perception of marital discord and are discussed in relation to family intactness, self-esteem, and sibling conflict and warmth between siblings in adulthood.

Abusive home environments as predictors of poor adjustment during adolescence and early adulthood

AbstractUnskilled discipline practices form the basis for three abusive elements that occur in the home environment: child maltreatment, neglectful supervision, and sibling conflict. Furthermore, we hypothesized that in the context of unskilled discipline, the abusive home environment variables would be predictive of a variety of adjustment outcomes as children moved into adolescence and early adulthood. We examined concurrent and longitudinal data for 182 Oregon Youth Study (OYS) boys across a variety of developmental outcomes over a 10‐year span. Multiple agent and method assessments of the boys, their siblings, and parents included direct observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Path analyses revealed that the consequences of each abusive home environment construct were, with little exception, consistent with the hypotheses. Thus, the enduring and powerful impact of an abusive home environment is apparent. This work also supports the idea of a continuum of parenting behaviors and a parenting skills deficit model across all families, rather than a “bad parent” versus “good parent” model. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Observations of sibling interactions in violent families

AbstractThis study examined sibling relationships of children from violent and non‐violent families. Participants included 20 children (10 dyads) who were shelter residents and their mothers and 40 children (20 dyads) from the community and their mothers. Mothers reported on children's behavior problems, sibling conflict resolution strategies, and the quality of the sibling relationship. Children reported on the quality of their sibling relationships. Sibling interactions were observed during both cooperative and competitive tasks. Shelter children had more internalizing problems than comparison children did. Mothers reported that siblings from violent homes used less verbal and physical aggression than the comparison group. Siblings in the shelter group were supportive. There were no significant differences in observed conflictual behavior. The importance of the sibling relationship and implications for intervention are discussed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.