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

Abstract

Parents’ differential treatment of siblings has been understudied among sibling research in Chinese societies where the government ended its one-child policy. This study, using a three-wave longitudinal design, explored the associations among parents’ marital and coparenting relationships, parental differential treatment of siblings, and adolescents’ sibling relationships within a theoretical framework of a developmental cascade model of family influence. Adolescents (Mage = 12.88 years, SD = 0.76 at Time 1; 51.2% girls) and their mothers from 260 families in China participated in this research (first data collection in January 2018). Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed marital and coparenting relationship quality, and adolescents completed questionnaires that assessed their perceptions of parental differential treatment as well as sibling intimacy and conflict. The results, based on path analyses, revealed that marital satisfaction at Time 1 was positively associated with coparenting support at Time 2. Coparenting support at Time 2 was negatively associated with adolescents’ perception of parental differential treatment at Time 3. Parental differential treatment at Time 3 was negatively associated with sibling intimacy at Time 3 but positively associated with sibling conflict at Time 3. These results are consistent with the developmental cascade hypothesis in that parent–parent subsystems influenced parental differential treatment of siblings as a parent–child subsystem, which in turn spilled over to create negative family processes that exacerbated adolescents’ sibling subsystem quality.

An integrated model: marital effect on adolescent behavioral problems through siblings

“…This lack of relationship may be due to the fact that sibling affection, as a positive interaction between siblings, is more likely to be influenced by marital intimacy. Marital conflict, on the other hand, had a smaller effect on positive interactions but was associated with sibling hostility by triggering socially learned behaviors ( Poortman and Voorpostel, 2009 ; Chen, 2023 ). Above all, marital conflict has implications for sibling hostility, and with high sibling hostility, adolescents are at much greater risk of depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior.…”

“…As a form of negative parenting, parental favoritism has implications for adolescent emotional and behavioral problems ( Jensen and Whiteman, 2014 ). Subsequently, eldest children who lose parents’ attention tend to exhibit sibling hostility, depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior ( Buhrmester and Furman, 1990 ; Chen, 2023 ). Given this, parents should establish a family atmosphere that is more intimate to protect their first child’s mental health.…”

“…On the one hand, family spillover hypothesis suggests that stress or harmony from parents’ marriage may spill over into sibling relationships. Increases in marital conflict is related to increase in hostility in sibling relationships ( Merino et al, 2022 ; Chen, 2023 ). Meanwhile, marital intimacy is positively related to sibling closeness ( Kim et al, 2007 ), and adolescents with warm marital relationships have higher sibling affection ( McHale et al, 2000 ; Skinner and McHale, 2022 ).…”