Notwithstanding relationships with parents and primary caregivers the relationship a person has with a sibling is likely to be his first important autonomous relationship with another person. Siblings have the same parents and families, and they often share homes and life experiences. Relationships with siblings are frequently a person’s longest lasting relationship. However, these relationships are often complex and diverse in nature and there is no cohesive theoretical explanation for the role that these relationships play in a person’s life. Therefore this study explored how a group of preadolescent boys perceive and explain their sibling relationships. The data for this exploratory qualitative study was obtained by interviewing the group of boys, and investigated how these boys make sense of their relationships. Four main themes emerged: the role of hierarchy within their relationships, the impact having a brother or a sister has on their relationships, how the boys understand conflict and competition, and finally how they comprehend closeness and separateness within their sibling relationships. The findings highlight the complexity of these relationships and also provide interesting insight into how the boys make sense of this complexity. Most of the boys said they preferred having siblings even if they reported having difficult relationships with their siblings. On the whole the boys felt that these relationships are very important for them, in spite of them reporting that their siblings are often challenging and problematic. The findings suggest that in this small sample, sibling relationships are central for boys in their negotiation of social interactions with people who are not their parents and/or adults.

No description available.

Experiencing sibling conflict is a fact of life for most children, and this study investigates which form of sibling conflict is more likely to lead to adjustment difficulties such as anxiety and depression. Questionnaires enquiring about sibling relationships, anxiety and depression were administered to 121 students of Westland High School aged between 13 and 18 years. The correlations and multiple regressions performed indicated that adolescents with a positive sibling relationship have significantly lower levels of depression. In addition, emotional conflict between siblings was found to be a significant predictor of depression, whilst jealousy was found to be a significant predictor of anxiety and social phobia. Implications for intervention regarding disciplining emotional aggression and controlling for jealousy are discussed.

Marital relationships play an important role in family functioning and in the development of sibling relationships. From a family systems perspective, other subsystems within the family, such as coparenting interactions, could explain the effects of the marital relationship on sibling bonds. Specifically, the quality of the coparenting relationship may mediate the association between marital functioning and sibling relationship quality. The current study examined relationships between these three subsystems (marital, coparenting, and sibling) as self-reported by mothers, fathers, and children with siblings. As part of a larger project, families with a child aged 8 to 11 and at least one sibling (N = 75) completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Coparenting Scale (both completed by mother and father), as well as the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (completed by target child). Results suggested that marital functioning is a significant predictor of functioning within the coparenting relationship. Predicted associations did not emerge between sibling relationship quality and marital or coparenting relationships, with minor exceptions, and the coparenting relationship did not mediate the association between marital and sibling relationship quality. Implications of the current findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the presence of resilience was manifested in a population of children within homeless families and more specifically, whether the sibling relationship provided a unique contribution to child psychological adjustment. Analyses were conducted to determine if the sibling relationship provided a unique contribution to the amelioration of child psychological distress among children within homeless families, thereby promoting child resilience. The variables of the study included resilience, sibling relationship, and psychological distress among children within homeless families. Data was collected from 60 school-aged children (26 boys and 34 girls), ages 9 to 17, who, along with their parents and siblings, resided in two, agency-operated, emergency housing centers located in Miami-Dade County. Hypothesis 1 predicted that high resilience would be related to low psychological distress. Hypothesis 2 predicted that positive sibling relationship would be related to low psychological distress and Hypothesis 3 predicted that high resilience and positive sibling relationship would be related to low psychological distress. It was concluded that resilience was partially related to low psychological distress; however, the relationship between positive sibling relationship and low psychological distress was not supported by the data in this study. The clinical and service implications of this study are discussed and recommendations are made for future research on this subject.

This thesis explores the experiences of adult siblings of individuals with impairments. It expands on the existing literature by exploring the complexity of the sibling experience of disability while moving beyond the concepts of burden and maladjustment that have characterized much of the previous literature. In addition, it expands upon and extends to the sibling experience an emerging view of disability by examining the ways in which themes identified in sibling narratives cross lines between the Medical and Social Models of Disability. Building on work by Mark Priestly and Tom Shakespeare, I call this emerging view the Interactional Model of Disability. Using in-depth interviews, four key themes have been identified: encountering bodily difference, the importance of social relationships, the mediating effects of resources, and complex emotions within the sibling experience. Findings indicate that variations within the sibling disability experience depend largely on whether impairment is appropriately acknowledged and accepted by the larger community, accessibility of resources, and the strength of social support. The use of informal caregiving was also an important factor in terms of the emotions experienced by siblings. Those participants whose families relied exclusively on informal caregiving experienced greater concerns about long term care arrangements than those participants whose families utilized some aspect of formalized caregiving such in home supports or assisted living arrangements.

Experiencing sibling conflict is a fact of life for most children, and this study investigates which form of sibling conflict is more likely to lead to adjustment difficulties such as anxiety and depression. Questionnaires enquiring about sibling relationships, anxiety and depression were administered to 121 students of Westland High School aged between 13 and 18 years. The correlations and multiple regressions performed indicated that adolescents with a positive sibling relationship have significantly lower levels of depression. In addition, emotional conflict between siblings was found to be a significant predictor of depression, whilst jealousy was found to be a significant predictor of anxiety and social phobia. Implications for intervention regarding disciplining emotional aggression and controlling for jealousy are discussed.

No description available.

Sibling relationships have been proven to be influential to the well-being of emerging adults. However, the diversity of individuals, particularly in regard to siblings of individuals with disabilities, has rarely been examined. Therefore, the current study explored the association among sibling relationships, coping, and well-being of emerging adults who have non-disabled siblings or autistic siblings. A single online survey was distributed to people between 18-25 who have non-disabled siblings or autistic siblings. The results found that siblings of autistic individuals reported significantly less sibling warmth, less gratitude, and more emotion suppression than siblings of a non-disabled brother or sister. In addition, optimism, gratitude, and emotion suppression were mediators that affected how sibling warmth related to individual’s distress. Furthermore, optimism and gratitude could be mediators that influenced the relationship between sibling warmth and individual’s resilience. In conclusion, the current study proposed that the difference of coping styles may be the underlying mechanism of worse well-being of siblings, and more perceived sibling warmth may be a buffer for ASD-Sibs’ resilience and coping. / M.S. / Sibling relationships can provide great supports for people during emerging adulthood (18-25 years old). The current study explored how sibling relationships affected emerging adults’ distress. We recruited non-disabled individuals who had an autistic sibling or a non-disabled sibling, and distributed them into ASD-group and ND-group correspondingly. There were 26 participants in ASD-group and 73 participants in ND-group. We found that people who had autistic siblings reported less sibling warmth, gratitude attitude, and more emotion suppression compared to people who had non-disabled siblings. We also found that sibling warmth affected distress by influencing optimism, gratitude, and emotion suppression. In addition, sibling warmth affected individual’s resilience by influencing optimism and gratitude. In conclusion, we proposed that for emerging adults who had an autistic sibling, clinical practitioners should focus more on their coping styles and their sibling relationships.

Mexican-origin youth represent a large and growing ethnic minority subgroup, and have disparate risk for early initiation of substance use. Therefore, it is crucial to understand factors that can prevent them from the initiation of substance use at an early age. Previous research has identified positive sibling relationships, lower rates of older sibling deviant behavior, and high levels of family values as important protective factors relevant for early substance use risk for European American youth. However, few studies have examined these influences among Mexican origin adolescents, and generalizability cannot be assumed given the notable differences between Mexican origin and EuropeanAmerican siblings. For example, Mexican origin siblings spend more time together than European-American siblings, and are shaped by many cultural factors, such as traditional family values (familism). The goal of this study was to understand the potential explanatory and interactive effects of familism and sibling relationships on Mexican origin youths’ intentions for using substances. I hypothesized that sibling relationship quality would serve as both a partial mediator and moderator between familism and ATOD use intentions, and that higher levels of older sibling deviance would partially mediate and/or moderate the association between familism and younger sibling ATOD use intentions. I used secondary data to analyze 409 pre-adolescent Mexican origin youth recruited from a metropolitan area in Northern California. None of our hypothesized models were confirmed. Specifically, negative sibling relationship quality did not serve as a moderator (b = -.27, SE = .87, OR = .77, p = .77), nor a mediator (b = -.01, SE = .04, 95% CI = -0.12, .05). between familism and ATOD use intentions. Further, older sibling deviant behavior did not serve as a moderator (b = .38, SEb = .94, OR = 1.47, p = .68), nor a mediator (b = -.00, SE = .04, 95% CI = -0.10, .05) between familism and ATOD use intentions. Despite the null findings, this study has important clinical implications, including the recommendation to promote sibling relationships in prevention programs for Latino youth. There were several limitations of the study which are discussed along with suggestions for future research directions.