Siblings: Friends or Foes?

Question 1

What are the three elements to the family systems theory?

Answer 1

1. Marital relationship
2. Mother-child relationship
3. Father-child relationship

Question 2

What are the four key ideas of the systems theory? (Minuchin, 1985)

Answer 2

1. Wholeness: a system is an organised whole that is greater than the sum of its parts
2. Integrity of subsystems: systems are composed of subsystems that may be studied in their own right
3. Circularity of influence: all components are mutually interdependent, change in one has implications for all
4. Stability and change: systems are open to outside influences that may change it

Question 3

What are some factors that are early predictors of sibling relationship?

Answer 3

Girls as well as those with easier temperaments would display more positivity and less rivalry toward their newborn siblings.

Based on social learning, family systems theory and previous literature, we further hypothesized that positive mother-first-born relationships and better marital quality would also predict more sibling positivity and less rivalry.

Question 4

What was the sample and recruitment of the arrival of the second born study?

Answer 4

Home visits
46 mothers and firstborn children in Sussex
Recruited via nurseries and via social media

Question 5

What was the procedure of the arrival of the second born study?

Answer 5

two time points…
time 1 - mothers in third trimester of pregnancy
time 2 - scheduled 4 months after due date
time 1:
- mother-child interaction 3 play sessions
- child tasks and mom questionnaires
- child temperament rated by researchers
time 2:
- home visits suspended due to COVID
- online questionnaire data only
- sibling relationship in early childhood

Question 6

What were the results of the arrival of the second born study?

Answer 6

sibling rivalry:
marital quality was a significant predictor of less sibling rivalry
When controlled for m-c relationship quality, first-born gender and temperament, the marital quality provided an independent prediction of the first-born’s rivalry/conflict behaviour towards a newborn sibling.
sibling positivity:
gender and temperament - girls showed more positive behaviours towards newborn siblings

Question 7

Sibling relationship quality has been linked with what?

Answer 7

Conduct problems
Links have been demonstrated longitudinally as well as cross-sectionally. These tend to be conceptualised as sibling relationship quality influencing child behavior

Question 8

What was found about reciprocity of sibling relationships?

Answer 8

Individual child behavior was predictive of sibling relationship quality, and sibling relationship quality was predictive of later child behavior.

Question 9

What was found about older sibling dominance in sibling relationships?

Answer 9

Older sibling prosocial behavior at Time 1 predicted sibling positivity and younger sibling prosocial behavior at Time 2; younger sibling prosocial behavior had no such influence.

A similar pattern emerged for conduct problems, but the paths did not significantly differ for older vs younger siblings.