Sibling violence is a common occurrence for many children yet this form of family violence has received minimal attention in research compared to other forms of child maltreatment. With parents as an integral component in the lives of many children, parental perceptions and experiences of violence between siblings are important to understand. Furthermore, with the increased variation in family structures within society, inclusion of multiple types of families in research is necessary to encompass a broad understanding of sibling violence. This case study included seven parents from four different family structures to examine their perceptions and experiences of physical and emotional violence between siblings. Three phases of data collection including both quantitative and qualitative data gathered information about participants’ experiences with siblings in childhood, witnessed behaviors between children, behaviors associated with sibling violence and sibling rivalry, and labels used to refer to violence between siblings. Participants were also presented with several case scenarios depicting various sibling interactions in which they processed the degree to which they found the behaviors violent or non-violent. Findings indicate that family structure is less important than past and present environmental and contextual factors in understanding participant differentiation between problematic and non-problematic behaviors between siblings. Data from all three phases helped in the construction of a parental decision-making model of sibling interaction that included consideration of past experiences, children factors, the context of interaction, and family rules when classifying behaviors. Implications of the findings for social work direct practice, policy aimed at addressing violence between siblings, advocacy through parental education, social work education, and future directions for research in the area of sibling violence are presented.

Partner violence is a recognized phenomenon in Sweden. Unfortunately, sibling violence does not seem to be noticed at all. Thoughts regarding whether there is any reason to differentiate between violence between adults and violence between siblings arose, which is why the purpose of the study is to compare differences between sibling violence and violence between adults. In summary, the results show that both violence between adults and sibling violence is a normalized violence in society, even though sibling violence seems to be even more normalized. In addition, the results show as in previous research that all forms of violence, such as physical, psychological, material and latent violence, are found in both sibling violence and partner violence. Even though, there is some disagreement about how they should be named. Finally, the essay shows how violence arises as a result of powerlessness, which is why the importance of defining violence based on the function of the action has been identified as necessary.

This study develops and evaluates a theoretical model based on social learning, conflict, and feminist perspectives to explain teenage sibling physical violence and psychological abuse. Using regression analysis and data from 796 young adults, considerable support is found for all three theoretical approaches and suggests an integrated model best predicts acts of violence and abuse among siblings. For physical violence, males and brothers had significantly higher rates. Spousal verbal conflict, patriarchal attitudes towards the distribution of chores among siblings, attitudes approving of the use of physical force during an argument, and sibling verbal conflict were strongly related to sibling violence. For psychological abuse, neither gender nor sibling pair was significant. The most important predictors for abuse were a close maternal relationship, favoritism, parents yelling, sharing property I psychological stress, patriarchal attitudes towards chores, approval of violence, and sibling verbal conflict. The model explains considerably more of the variance in teenage sibling psychological abuse than physical violence, 42 percent and 32 percent respectively. Finally, the study provides directions for future research on sibling violence and abuse. / Ph. D.

Syftet med studien var att se hur skolkuratorer på gymnasieskolor kan arbeta förebyggande med syskonvåld inom det skolsociala arbetet. Studien har utgått från tre frågeställningar som berör hur skolkuratorerna arbetar förebyggande mot syskonvåld, vilka metoder som kan vara användbara samt hur de kan hjälpa elever som redan blivit utsatta för syskonvåld. Denna studie har utförts utifrån en kvalitativ ansats genom fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer med sammanlagt tio intervjupersoner som arbetar på gymnasieskolor. Studiens resultat visar att det råder mer kunskap om syskonvåld och det förebyggande arbetet kring detta än vad skolkuratorerna inledningsvis uppfattat. Genom diskussioner och reflektioner i fokusgrupperna har skolkuratorerna erhållit mer kunskap. Gymnasieskolorna har ett antal bra metoder som redan existerar inom verksamheterna som går att applicera både på det förebyggande arbetet och arbetet där syskonvåldet redan sker. Det går även att arbeta förebyggande där våldet redan sker genom att förhindra att våldet fortlöper och eskalerar. / The purpose of the study was to see how school counselors at high schools can work preventively with sibling violence within the school social work. The study was based on three questions that concern how the school counselors work preventively against sibling violence, which methods can be useful and how they can help students who have already been exposed to sibling violence. This study has been carried out based on a qualitative approach through four focus group interviews with a total of ten interviewees who work in high school. The results of the study show that there is more knowledge about sibling violence and the preventive work around it than the school counselors initially perceived. Through discussions and reflections in the focus groups, the school counselors have gained more knowledge. The high schools have a number of good methods that already exist within the activities that can be applied both to the preventive work and the work where sibling violence already is present. It is also possible to work preventively where the violence is already taking place by preventing the violence from continuing and escalating.

This study aims to explore the perspective of school counsellors on sibling violence, focusing on their understanding of the phenomenon through their professional experiences and their perceptions of their own abilities in addressing it. The study was conducted through a qualitative approach, where six school counsellors working with teenagers aged thirteen years and up were interviewed using a semi-structured interview method. The findings of this study suggest that school counsellors play an important role in identifying, responding, and promoting change in cases of sibling violence within the school system. Furthermore, their observations indicate that the family environment can be significant to the occurrence of sibling violence through the normalisation and perpetuation of the violence, be it directly or through a general culture of violence in the family. Additionally, the occurrence of sibling violence has also been observed to have some potential consequences for persons experiencing it, such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and mistrust of others.