Chinese adolescents' positive relationships with parents: The effects of the sex of their younger sibling

Abstract

We investigated how sibling status and sex of younger siblings influence Chinese adolescents' relationships with their fathers and mothers as a function of resource dilution and preference for sons. The sample included 1,093 adolescents from the 8th grade (Mage = 13.96 years, SD = 0.75 years; 47% girls) and the 11th grade (Mage = 17.25 years, SD = 0.74 years; 57% girls) in a longitudinal study. Consistent with expectations pertaining to the hypothesis of resource dilution and son preference in combination, girls with a younger brother reported less positive relationships with mothers than either singleton girls or girls with a younger sister. No significant difference was found between singleton boys and boys with a younger sibling. The current findings show implications that the resource‐dilution theory and son preference culture together may place girls with a younger brother in an unfavorable condition of resource allocation.

Peer Relationships and Chinese Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: Selection and Influence

“…Sex differences in selection and influence may emerge as a function of not only children's sex but also the sex of their siblings. Although there is a preference for sons in traditional Chinese society, Chinese singleton girls may benefit from the “one-child policy” because parents tend to strongly invest in their only child regardless of their child's sex (e.g., B. B. Chen et al, 2022).…”

“…B. Chen et al, 2022). Nevertheless, as the onechild policy is being relaxed, Chinese parents may distribute educational resources differently to their sons and daughters (Lei et al, 2017).…”

Chinese parents’ marital and coparenting relationships, parental differential treatment of siblings, and adolescents’ sibling relationships.

“…After many decades of single-child families, parents are now enjoying family life with more than one child, but they now face more challenges given that the birth of one or more siblings makes the family system more complex (Chen, Ning, & Lv, 2022; Chen & Volling, 2023; Kreppner, 1988; Volling, 2012). The issue of how to treat children equally in the same family (or “to hold a bowl of water level,” which is a commonly used saying in China) is one of the challenges Chinese parents may encounter (Chen, Shen, et al, 2022). When a parent favors a child less than a sibling, this experience is labeled parental differential treatment of siblings (Daniels & Plomin, 1985).…”