Study Unveils Secrets of Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry may be as old as the hills (think Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Lisa and Bart, George and Jeb), but there's new science to it. The worst ages for strife, according to a study in the November/December issue of Child Development: When the older child is about 13 and the second around 10. Those most likely to view the relationship with their sibling in a positive light? Girls in a sister-sister pair. When the wars often cool? Late adolescence.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania base these findings on their look into the relationship between first- and second-born siblings (mostly preteen and adolescent) in 200 white, working- and middle-class families in urban and rural Pennsylvania.

The researchers asked siblings to rate their relationship with each other on two scales -- one measuring "positivity," or intimacy, and the other measuring conflict. Researchers then asked each child's parents to do the same thing. The data show that sibling relations are largely defined by the context of the whole family. When conflict between children and their fathers either increased or decreased, similar changes were reported between the siblings. Findings linked a mother's warmth and acceptance of her children with the intimacy of siblings, researchers said.

Lead study author Ji-Yeon Kim, a research associate at Pennsylvania State University, said via e-mail that she chose to study siblings because their relationship is one of the longest- lasting in people's lives. She acknowledged her findings might not apply to a more ethnically diverse group of participants. "Further, in single-parent families, I would speculate that the significance of parent-child relationships and sibling relationships would not be the same."

(C) 2006 The Cincinnati Post. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

The Cincinnati Post:  http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Back to News