A Two-Year Longitudinal Study of Naturalistic Parent–Child-Originated and Sibling-Originated Polyadic Conflicts

Young children's differential use of power during family conflict: A longitudinal study

“…In addition to differences in power use and effectiveness over time, the number of polyadic conflicts substantially declined from T1 to T2. These findings are in line with Persram, Della Porta, and colleagues (2019), who reported a proportional decrease in sibling‐originated and an increase in parent‐child‐originated disputes over time. They argue that as children grow older, their conflicts become more varied and possibly (a) do not require parental intervention or (b) involve a dispute with their parent.…”

“…This discrepancy is likely due to the context of conflict, as dyadic sibling conflict differs qualitatively from polyadic family conflict. Interactions between individuals in polyadic family conflict involve unbalanced power dynamics with parental involvement, making siblings’ power dynamics relatively more balanced in comparison (Persram, Scirocco, et al., 2019). The family context, therefore, may impact children's behavior, a situation requiring further nuanced investigation.…”

“…By engaging in power in sophisticated ways, children show capability in modifying or controlling their immediate social environment, which can impact emotions (Saarni et al., 2006). Advancing research on power use in these domains would enhance our understanding of polyadic conflict and how it may afford opportunities for children to develop, practice, and hone their social and emotional understanding (Persram, Scirocco, et al., 2019).…”

“…The family context provides opportunities to study young children's power as it changes over time and by birth order during conflict, revealing developmental and experiential differences. Following family systems theory that views the family as an interconnected, interrelated system, we examined children's use of power to develop in‐depth knowledge about polyadic family conflict interactions (Persram, Scirocco, et al., 2019). This study addressed differences in siblings’ power use and effectiveness during polyadic family conflict (a) over a 2‐year period from early childhood to the cusp of middle childhood, and (b) by birth order, between 4‐year‐old older siblings at Time 1 (T1) (when younger siblings were age of 2), and 2 years later, 4‐year‐old younger siblings at Time 2 (T2) (when older siblings were age of 6).…”

“…Based on this literature, we outlined three hypotheses. First, at T1, children were expected to use and be effective with coercive and simple power, whereas at T2, children were predicted to use information power more frequently with their advancing social‐cognitive skills and emotional understanding (Abuhatoum et al., 2018; Persram, Della Porta, et al., 2019). Second, to examine birth order effects, 4‐year‐old older siblings at T1 were anticipated to use coercive and simple power, whereas 4‐year‐old younger siblings at T2 were expected to use information power, due to family role and experience in matching their older siblings’ capabilities (Abuhatoum et al., 2018).…”