Sibling Rivalry Research Articles

Dynastic rule in Syria and North Korea: Nepotism, succession, and sibling rivalry

Dynastic rule in republics is a global trend. Using a qualitative life-story-and-family-history method to compare two republican dynasties – the Assads of Syria and Kims of North Korea – this article examines how ruthless kin groups establish themselves in power, practice nepotism and corrupt republican institutions of government with dynastic succession. Focusing on sibling rivalry, a potentially destructive threat to dynasties, it contributes to an emerging political science literature on republican political families by exploring five factors that shape sibling conflict and cooperation.

Editor's Introduction: The Spirituality of Parenting. Or, Stomping, Screaming, and Slamming Doors

Editor's Introduction:The Spirituality of Parenting. Or, Stomping, Screaming, and Slamming Doors S. Brent Rodríguez-Plate My favorite winter holiday movie is It's a Wonderful Life. Cynics decry the sappy ending, and others have critiqued its pollyannaish view of the world. But they too quickly skip to the snappy-happy ending and miss the half of the movie that descends deep into desperation. As George Bailey (James Stewart) begins his downward spiral, he angrily discusses his life with his patient wife, Mary (Donna Reed). He runs through the list of how bad the finances are, how their old house is crumbling, and ultimately turns his rancor on the family. He exclaims, "You call this a happy family?! Why did we have to have all these kids anyway?!" George Bailey exclaims what so many of us have thought at so many times: Wouldn't life be easier without children? Parenting is difficult, occasionally overwhelming and exasperating. It is a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute bustle of assessment, gauging hunger levels, managing sleep schedules, placating sibling rivalries, and soothing emotional upheaval. We often, parents and children alike, spend our time not in some "spiritual" mode, but stomping, screaming, and slamming doors.1 And yet, as we Homo sapiens survive we seem to be drawn again and again to bringing up new members of our species, to shaping and educating our young, and developing some micro-community we call a family. Somewhere in our bio-cultural evolution humans have found that parenting is one of the most rewarding experiences in life. As many of us attest we feel ourselves to be better writers, teachers, workers, activists, artists, friends, lovers, and sons and daughters because we have learned something by being parents. Parenting does this in part because it is a wholistic enterprise, engaging: body, mind, and spirit; economics, politics, and history; gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity; eating, sleeping, and being bored. Very few functions of adult lives are as all-encompassing as parenting.2 [End Page 241] religion, spirituality, and parenting Among this push and pull of parenting, religious traditions play a preeminent role. All major religious traditions exert a tremendous of energy regulating and maintaining the socio-political unit that is the family. For family is, among other things, about the regulation of bodies and minds, as children are taught social skills and adaptations that, as we parents believe, will help them in life. Religious traditions have long understood that stable family structures lead to stable societies. The familial microcosm is a building block of a socio-political macrocosm. Even when we attempt to teach our children to be contrarian to reigning values, we inevitably provide them with a path that we hope they will walk down, filled with values that transcend our immediate surroundings and connect them with a larger milieu. Which brings us to the spirituality of parenting. When I set out to assemble this special issue, I thought to use the term "spirituality" (instead of "religion") because it flows in and out of religious traditions, even as it is infused with personalized impulses and activities. Families create their own rituals around the dinner table, tell stories of their ancestors, establish interpersonal bonds on the commute to school, and create symbolically special spaces and times at home and away. These activities run parallel and often in tandem with what we tend to call religious traditions, but they are also unique and made meaningful by a family of people and are not generally shared beyond that group. Spirituality, as I'm considering it here, allows us to think about a non-institutionalized, small-scale flow of activity and meaning making, even as it follows similar formal paths that religious traditions have long tread. Most of the contributors, I must quickly note, barely use the term spirituality and instead link their parenting life with religious traditions: Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, and Taoism. spiritual parenting now Why revisit parenting now? Why run a special issue on this topic at this point in time? Maybe it was the global pandemic of Covid-19 that stirred this interest, but parenting seems to be on the minds of many...

The Truth of the Work of Art: Freud and Benjamin on Goethe

Juliet Mitchell’s psychoanalytic account of sibling rivalry, fluctuating between narcissistic identification (love) and fear of annihilation (hate), also applies to Walter Benjamin’s model of true love in his reading of Goethe’s Elective Affinities. This model is found in the utopian novella “The Curious Tale of the Childhood Sweethearts,” inserted within Goethe’s novel. By reducing the relationship between the novella and its framing narrative to an opposition between truth and semblance, Benjamin replicates in his reading the specular logic that is love’s obstacle. On the other hand, Freud’s analysis of an episode in Goethe’s autobiography can be said to retroactively operate what Mitchell calls “lateral castration,” for Freud compares the great writer to patients in analysis and thus establishes the necessary seriality that creates “space for one who is the same and different.” Still, and although elements of his own autobiography facilitate the construction of alternative scenarios, Freud exempts Goethe’s sisters from the position of rivals. Recognising “the sister” as earliest playmate, and object of hatred and narcissistic identification, like Mitchell does, might be the first step necessary for drawing a model of love for women as peers this side of utopia.

Sibling Rivalry and Reunion: Sisters in and out of Cuba (García’s The Agüero Sisters and De Aragón’s The Memory of Silence)

In both The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia and The Memory of Silence by Uva de Aragon, the two authors develop their respective conflicts around sisters who are separated following the Cuban Revolution. In both cases, one sister remains in Cuba while the other migrates to the United States. As the two novels develop, the reader understands that we are before an allegory in which one sisters represents post-Revolutionary Cuba while the other emblemizes the new identity of the Cuban exile diaspora. The narrative tension presents the protagonists as rivals, but in both cases, their reunification says as much as about cultural relationships as it does sibling rivalries. Given the striking similarities between the two works in both discourse and theme, then, we may be tempted to presume that one story is merely a re-telling of the other; however, a textual analysis reveals identifiable differences in scope, purpose, and resolution.

Sibling Rivalry: Evidence from China’s Compulsory Schooling Reform

Abstract This study investigates the causal effect of older siblings’ schooling on their younger siblings’ schooling and labor market outcomes by exploiting the temporal and geographical variations in the implementation of compulsory schooling laws in China. Reform exposure is quantified as the number of years that an individual is eligible for compulsory education. We find that older siblings’ exposure to compulsory schooling reform had negative impacts on their younger siblings’ academic achievement and labor market performance. We provide some suggestive evidence for the mechanism of resource reallocation within households. These findings suggest that we may be overestimating the social benefits of compulsory schooling reforms by ignoring the resources constraints within households and the spillover effects on siblings.

Concept of Rivalry in D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers (1913) is one of D.H. Lawrence’s most prominent novels in terms of psychological complexities characteristic of most, if not all, of his other novels. Many studies have been conducted on the Oedipus complex theory and psychological relationship between men and women in Lawrence’s novels reflecting the early twentieth century norms of life. This paper reexamines Sons and Lovers from the perspective of rivalry based on Alfred Adler’s psychological studies. The discussion tackles the sibling rivalry between the members of the Morels and extends to reexamining the rivalry between other characters. This concept is discussed in terms of two levels of relationships. First, between Paul and William as brothers on the one hand, and Paul and father and mother, on the other. Second, the rivalry triangle of Louisa, Miriam and Mrs. Morel. The qualitative pattern of the paper focuses on the textual analysis of the novel to show that Sons and Lovers can be approached through the concept of rivalry and sibling Rivalry. Keywords: Attachment theory, Competition, Concept of Rivalry, Favoritism, Sibling rivalry.

Populism and Global Justice: A Sibling Rivalry?

As academic literatures and political demands, global justice and populism look like competing ways of diagnosing and addressing neoliberal inequality. But both misunderstand neoliberalism and consequently risk reinforcing rather than undermining it. Neoliberalism does not just break down political and social hierarchies, but also relies on and sustains them. Unless populists recognize this, they will find that assertions of sovereignty do more to reinforce neoliberalism and reproduce its hierarchies than to resist them. Recognizing neoliberalism as not simply corrosive of solidarity but also producing its own affective ties suggests that global justice advocates need to develop a critique of individual attitudes that egalitarian liberals have often seen as private and been hesitant to judge. In short, if either populism or global justice hope to take advantage of neoliberalism’s failures to advance an egalitarian politics, they need to reckon more carefully with their own entanglement with neoliberalism’s hopes and hierarchies.

HUBUNGAN JARAK KELAHIRAN DAN SIKAP IBU DENGAN PENANGANAN SIBLING RIVALRY PADA ANAK USIA 3-5 TAHUN DI KELURAHAN SIRANDORUNG KAB.LABUHANBATU TAHUN 2020

The rivalry between siblings usually occurs at the age of the first five years when the older sister's position as the center of attention is replaced by her baby sister, enough time to educate her children, then it will be fair so all feel the same love. However, for those who do not understand how to educate a good child, it is very possible for a child who cries to be pinched and maybe even be whipped and other ways of physical abuse. year in Kel.Sirandorung Regency, Pelabuhanbatu in 2020. This study is a quantitative study with a cross sectional type of research that aims to find out how the close relations between the two variables. The results of the study with a population of 48 people, purposive sampling, statistical analysis using Chi-Square showed a significant relationship between birth spacing with Sibling Rivalry in Kel.Sirandorung 0.000 <0.05. There is a significant relationship between parents' attitudes with sibling rivalry in Kel. Sandandorung obtained results of 0,000 <0.05. The conclusion of this study is that the better the birth spacing and the attitude of mothers to eat will decrease the occurrence of sibling rivalry in children to be expected to health workers to be able to socialize about sibling rivalry especially to parents who have two or more children.

Influence of family violence on the maladaptive behaviors of secondary school students in Kogi State, Nigeria

This study explored the influence of family violence on the Maladaptive Behaviours of Secondary School Students in Kogi State, Nigeria. The design for this study is correlational research design. The population of the study consists of 29,570 students in secondary schools in Kogi State, Nigeria. A sample of 378 respondents was selected for this study. Stratified random sampling procedure was used in selecting the students. The instrument for data collection was the family violence and characteristics of Maladaptive Behaviour Questionnaire (FVMBQ). The FVMBQ is a 24-item instrument designed along a modified four-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was validated by a team of experts in the Faculty of Education, University of Abuja. The reliability of the instrument was established via a pilot test conducted using the test-retest method of reliability, which yielded the reliability (r) value of 0.86. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and linear regression. The study found incidences of family violence and maladaptive behaviour and also revealed that family violence significantly predicts maladaptive behaviour of secondary school students in Kogi State. It was recommended among others that parents must develop the right attitude of love, trust, tolerance and patience towards their children; parents need to step in before sibling rivalry turns into abuse and teachers should provide a caring, compassionate, supportive environment for the school child to rebuild trust that has probably been destroyed by an abuser at home. Key words: Adolescents, family violence, maladaptive behavior, students.

FACTORS RELATED TO THE EVENT OF SIBLING RIVALRY IN CHILDREN 1-5 YEARS OLD IN LABIBIA SUB-DISTRICT OF MANDONGA DISTRICT IN KENDARI CITY

Background: Child psychological development is an important part of child welfare indicators. The development of child psychology determines the mental readiness of children, one of the problems in children's psychological development is sibling rivalry, which is a sense of competition due to the birth of a younger sibling, causing competition to get attention from their parents. Based on the initial survey, out of 8 mothers with children aged 1-5 years said that since the arrival of their new siblings, their first children often fuss and cry for no reason and want to always be noticed, sometimes even want to hit and injure their younger siblings. This study aims to determine the factors associated with the incidence of sibling rivalry in children aged 1-5 years in Labibia village, Mandonga sub-district, Kendari city. Methods: The type of study was cross sectional design method. The sample in this study were all mothers who had two or more children aged 1-5 years in Labibia Village, Mandonga District, namely 39 mothers. The sampling technique used simple random sampling, the method of analysis used the Chi Square test. Result: The results of this study, showed that there was a moderate relationship between knowledge and the incidence of sibling rivalry (X2 count = 6.955> the value of X2 table = 2.705) and the value of phi (?) = 0.422, there was a moderate relationship between parenting styles and the incidence of sibling rivalry (X2 Count = 8,269> the value of X2 Table = 2.705) and the value of phi (?) = 0.460 and there is a strong relationship between attitude and the incidence of sibling rivalry (X2 count = 18.373> value of X2 Table = 2.705) and the value of phi (?) = 0.686. Conclusion: It is hoped that the parents further increase knowledge and awareness of the behaviors given and understanding of good parenting, with a good attitude will have a positive impact on their children.

Parenting Patterns with Sibling Rivalry Incidents in Preschooler: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Parenting style is a comprehensive unity between parent-child interactions. Different parenting styles in children have an impact on the incidence of sibling rivalry in preschool children. According to WHO (World Health Organization) the incidence of sibling rivalry in parenting, the known data from research on 52 respondents: democratic parenting (32.7%), authoritarian (3.8%), permissive (46.2%), abandonment (17.3%), there was Sibling Rivalry (65.4%) and there was no Sibling Rivalry (34.6%). This paper aims to assess the effect of parenting style on the incidence of sibling rivalry in preschool children. Method: This writing uses a systematic review design. The data is taken from the Science Direct, Poquest and Google Cendikia databases, with a period of 2016-2020. Search for journals and articles using the keywords parenting (parenting), sibling rivalry, prescooler (pre-school children). Result: There were ten selected journal articles from 2508 journal articles found from three databases. All journal articles say that there is a relationship between the type of parenting style of parents and the incidence of sibling rivalry in preschool children. Discussion: The results of the analysis in this systematic review show that modern parents, who have a level of knowledge that continues to develop, are more proactive in seeking information about parenting styles and sibling rivalry. Conclusion: The majority of parenting styles adopted by parents are democratic parenting so that parents become more pro-active in seeking information about the best parenting styles and the incidence of sibling rivalry.

How stressful life events and violence are related to mental health: the protective role of social relations in African context

Adolescents are universally expected to be at risk for heightened stress and violence, and subsequently to mental health problems. Good social relationships may protect their mental health, but research has mainly focused on singular relations, such as peer popularity or general social support. The current study analyses the buffering role of multiple relationships in an African context. First, how stressful life-events and violent experiences are associated to mental health, and, second, whether good social relationships with parents, siblings and peers can buffer mental health from stress and violence. The participants were 415 Ghanaian students (aged 14–17 years, M = 16.51; 71% girls). They indicated mental health by depressive symptoms and psychological distress and reported the quality of parental (support and control), sibling (warmth and rivalry) and peer relationships, and exposure to stressful life-events and violence. Hierarchical linear regression models with main and interaction effects were used to analyze the data. Only stressful life-events, but not violence, were associated with higher levels of depressive and psychological distress symptoms. Positive sibling relationships played a buffering mental health role, as stressful life-events were not related with increased depressive symptoms among adolescents enjoying warm and intimate siblingships. No protective function was found for parental or peer relationships, although good maternal and peer relationships were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in general.

Born to Compete? Sibling Rivalry and Self-Employment

Drawing on Social comparison and resource dilution theories, this study posits that sibling rivalry affects peoples’ decisions to enter self-employment through two mechanisms. First, sibling rivalry fosters individual competitiveness, which triggers people to choose occupations that involve competitive behaviors such as self- employment. Second, by diluting parental resources, sibling rivalry negatively influences educational attainment. This, in turn, can affect self-employment in a non-linear fashion; people with lower education may lack the cognitive ability needed for self-employment, while those with higher education may find it more economically attractive to pursue wage jobs. We also argue that these two mechanisms–educational attainment and nurturing competitiveness–are moderated by the gender of the focal individual as well as by the gender composition of her siblings. We find evidence for these mechanisms by analyzing data from a survey of 4,086 individuals in China.

Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria?

Assuming that fathers never transmit mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, mitochondrial mutations that affect male fitness are invisible to direct selection on males, leading to an accumulation of male-harming alleles in the mitochondrial genome (mother's curse). However, male phenotypes encoded by mtDNA can still undergo adaptation via kin selection provided that males interact with females carrying related mtDNA, such as their sisters. Here, using experiments with Drosophila melanogaster carrying standardized nuclear DNA but distinct mitochondrial DNA, we test whether the mitochondrial haplotype carried by interacting pairs of larvae affects survival to adulthood, as well as the fitness of the adults. Although mtDNA had no detectable direct or indirect genetic effect on larva-to-adult survival, the fitness of male and female adults was significantly affected by their own mtDNA and the mtDNA carried by their social partner in the larval stage. Thus, mtDNA mutations that alter the effect of male larvae on nearby female larvae (which often carry the same mutation, due to kinship) could theoretically respond to kin selection. We discuss the implications of our findings for the evolution of mitochondria and other maternally inherited endosymbionts.

Sibling Rivalry in 2-4 Years Old Children: Maternal Management Based on Emotion Coaching Concept

Sibling rivalry is a usual phenomenon in sibling relationship. Sibling rivalry refers to envy, jealousy, and competition between siblings. The birth of younger sibling causes the first child to be flustered, disturbed and experiences change in the routines; makes the first child to feel that parents do not have time for her/him anymore. The experience may result in the sibling relationship and child behavior problems, hence it should be managed. Mother has an important role in handling sibling rivalry and emotion coaching is one of the ways to support emotional development. Emotion coaching refers to acceptance of the emotion and teach the child to regulate it. This qualitative study explored maternal management in sibling rivalry based on emotion coaching concept. We inteviewed four mothers with two children of same sex, the first child is 2-4 years old and the second child is 0-6 weeks old. Findings revealed that the four mothers haven’t used all stages of emotion coaching in handling sibling rivalry as yet. Mothers tended to deny their child’s emotion and use their own perception in dealing with sibling rivalry. Implication of this result was discussed.

Memory of Divisional History Directs the Continuous Process of Primitive Hematopoietic Lineage Commitment.

SummaryHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) exist in a dormant state and progressively lose regenerative potency as they undergo successive divisions. Why this functional decline occurs and how this information is encoded is unclear. To better understand how this information is stored, we performed RNA sequencing on HSC populations differing only in their divisional history. Comparative analysis revealed that genes upregulated with divisions are enriched for lineage genes and regulated by cell-cycle-associated transcription factors, suggesting that proliferation itself drives lineage priming. Downregulated genes are, however, associated with an HSC signature and targeted by the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2). The PRC2 catalytic subunits Ezh1 and Ezh2 promote and suppress the HSC state, respectively, and successive divisions cause a switch from Ezh1 to Ezh2 dominance. We propose that cell divisions drive lineage priming and Ezh2 accumulation, which represses HSC signature genes to consolidate information on divisional history into memory.

Etiology and risk factors for scholastic backwardness in children – A retrospective study

Background: Scholastic backwardness (SB) is estimated to affect 20–50% of schoolgoing children in India. The etiology includes low intelligence quotient (IQ), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disabilities (SLD), and chronic illnesses. Non-cognitive factors such as poor parenting, marital disharmony, and sibling rivalry could also affect learning. Early recognition and prompt remediation could obviate its negative impact on a child’s self-esteem and achievements. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the etiology and risk factors for SB in children. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based retrospective study was done in the child guidance clinic of the Department of Pediatrics of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Karnataka. The records of children age 5–16 years, visiting the SB unit from January 2011 to January 2019, were reviewed. Children fulfilling the case definition of SB were included in the study and classified based on IQ, attention span, and performance on NIMHANS scale for SLD. The risk factors for SB were also assessed. Results: Among the 286 children with SB, the causes identified were attention deficit disorder (ADD) (4.5%), ADD with SLD (30.4%), SLD (24.1%), slow learners (SL) (20.6%), intellectual disability (ID) (3.1%), and others (17.1%). Consanguinity, developmental delay, seizure disorder, and lower educational status of parents were strongly associated with low IQ. Birth by cesarean section was associated with ADD. Psychosocial risk factors included disturbed home environment, poor parenting techniques, and poor relation with teachers and peers. Conclusion: SLD, ADD, SL, and ID are the major causes of SB. Disturbed relations with parents, peers, and teachers can also contribute to SB.

An evolutionary switch from sibling rivalry to sibling cooperation, caused by a sustained loss of parental care

Sibling rivalry is commonplace within animal families, yet offspring can also work together to promote each other's fitness. Here we show that the extent of parental care can determine whether siblings evolve to compete or to cooperate. Our experiments focus on the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, which naturally provides variable levels of care to its larvae. We evolved replicate populations of burying beetles under two different regimes of parental care: Some populations were allowed to supply posthatching care to their young (Full Care), while others were not (No Care). After 22 generations of experimental evolution, we found that No Care larvae had evolved to be more cooperative, whereas Full Care larvae were more competitive. Greater levels of cooperation among larvae compensated for the fitness costs caused by parental absence, whereas parental care fully compensated for the fitness costs of sibling rivalry. We dissected the evolutionary mechanisms underlying these responses by measuring indirect genetic effects (IGEs) that occur when different sibling social environments induce the expression of more cooperative (or more competitive) behavior in focal larvae. We found that indirect genetic effects create a tipping point in the evolution of larval social behavior. Once the majority of offspring in a brood start to express cooperative (or competitive) behavior, they induce greater levels of cooperation (or competition) in their siblings. The resulting positive feedback loops rapidly lock larvae into evolving greater levels of cooperation in the absence of parental care and greater levels of rivalry when parents provide care.

Pepper & Boo: A Cat Surprise! by Charise Mericle Harper

Reviewed by: Pepper & Boo: A Cat Surprise! by Charise Mericle Harper Kiri Palm Harper, Charise Mericle Pepper & Boo: A Cat Surprise!; written and illus. by Charise Mericle Harper. Little, 2020 [64p] (Pepper & Boo) Trade ed. ISBN 9781368049047 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 1-2 Pups Pepper and Boo share their home with the cat, but chaos ensues when the cat takes over Boo's bed. Boo seeks Pepper's advice in reclaiming their cozy cot, but Pepper isn't nearly as helpful as Boo would like. Boo's anxiety over feline aggression ends with the dog relinquishing its cherished napping spot and climbing to safer territory, but Boo is in for the titular cat surprise when the cat settles in to the pooch's hiding space, snuggling up and purring. This early reader graphic novel follows the now-familiar Elephant and Piggie structure previously used by Harper in The Good for Nothing Button (BCCB 6/17), with Boo and Pepper's dialogue shown in color-coded speech bubbles that aid in reading comprehension and keep the story moving at a clip. While the pups debate the best course of action to recover Boo's bed, the cat lectures the reader on all the necessary facts about feline napping, feeding, and bathing rituals with hints of silliness that will have grownups chuckling too. Harper's digital art is muted in palette but bold in comedic hijinks that are sure to delight fans of Mo Willems and Bob Shea. Boo and the cat's eventual sweet truce makes this a great fit for lessons in sharing and resolving sibling rivalries. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Misogyny and the Continuity Crisis: Is Social Science Research Responsible?

Misogyny and the Continuity Crisis:Is Social Science Research Responsible? Leonard Saxe (bio) This response to Berman, Rosenblatt, and Stahl's indictment of social science and its role in promoting misogyny in the US Jewish community is being written in the midst of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has already resulted in more than 180,000 deaths worldwide, and most of us are self-isolating to mitigate propagation of the virus.1 Members of the Jewish community have not been spared the consequences of the pandemic, as it has disrupted not only our health, but also our personal, professional, and religious lives. For many, Passover was spent separated from loved ones, as the apex of the pandemic upended the family gatherings that normally pass on the formative story of Judaism to the next generation. I situate my comments within the Covid-19 crisis because the underlying theme of the authors' critique is that the demographic study of Jewish continuity—essentially the study of families—is inherently misogynistic. Their thesis is that social scientists created "a continuity crisis paradigm" that acts to subjugate women's agency. By extension, the construct, adopted by Jewish communal leaders, helps to explain why exploitation and sexual harassment has been tolerated in the Jewish community. Berman, Rosenblatt, and Stahl's provocative argument conflates a number of issues. One is the focus of the scholarship of Jewish life on families and, in particular, marriage. A second is the application of sociodemographic methods to the study of Jewish life. A third concerns the inferences and policy conclusions drawn from that research. The linkage between these elements is complex, far more so than the authors suggest. In particular, their assessment rests on a narrow perspective on the production of social scientific knowledge. As a postpositivist, who nevertheless values empirical research, my comments focus on a set of alternative explanations for the phenomena described by the authors. Although I reject the authors' argument that a particular way of studying Jewish continuity promotes misogyny, I concur with their [End Page 221] contention that individual behavior—in this case, sexual harassment—needs to be understood in a larger context. Attributing responsibility solely to individuals is a "fundamental attribution error"2 and deflects attention from collective responsibility. If we are to redress gender-based harassment, we must understand the underlying attitudes and policies that promote or tolerate such behavior. As social scientists, we have an obligation to explore how and whether our discipline contributes to an inequitable environment, Berman, Rosenblatt, and Stahl take issue with quantitative sociodemographic studies in particular and their role in promoting the perception of a continuity crisis. To place this work in context, the discussion below considers aspects of the authors' argument separately. In part, I assess the role of research in shaping discourse in the Jewish community. I suggest improvements in research design, analysis, and interpretation so that the diversity of the Jewish experience can be better understood. IS MARRIAGE AND FAMILY RESEARCH INHERENTLY PROBLEMATIC? Given Judaism's focus on childbearing and child-rearing, it is difficult to accept the premise that the social scientific study of marriage and family is not a legitimate focus of research on the Jewish community.3 To note the obvious, family issues frame Judaism's most sacred text. From the origin story of Adam and Eve, to the story of Abraham, Sarah and their progeny, to the journey of the tribes of Israel who fled from Egypt, the Biblical narrative features sibling rivalry, spousal jealousy, deceit, and a host of human failings. Intimate relationships are at the foreground of Jewish history and culture. Demography is also part of the Jewish story. Censuses of the Jewish people occurred even as they wandered in the desert. Described in the kind of detail that would be worthy of a dissertator's methodology section, the census is a kind of stratified sample (by family) of the tribes. A longstanding focus of commentary has concerned who and what might have been missed in the accounting, but notably other debates have focused on the censuses' accuracy.4 Even today, when the Torah portion [End Page 222] (B'midbar) describing the census is recited, we also read...