The Changing Nature of Power, Control, and Influence in Sibling Relationships

Campione‐Barr, Nicole

doi:10.1002/cad.20202

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Second, physically, by early adolescence, there is typically much less of a disparity between siblings in strength or physical ability. Earlier in childhood, this disparity often benefits older siblings in resolving disputes by intimidation or physical domination (Campione‐Barr, ). By early adolescence, older siblings have to find other ways to work with younger siblings to resolve differences (e.g., through compromise).…”

Section: Developmental Importance Of Adolescencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Relationships with siblings are also unique in that they are both reciprocal (i.e., involving playing, taking turns), similar to relationships with friends, and complementary (i.e., hierarchical), similar to parent–child relationships (Dunn, ). While older siblings are physically, cognitively, and socially more mature than younger siblings due to age differences, these discrepancies dissipate relatively quickly, usually by adolescence (Campione‐Barr, ). Therefore, by adolescence, siblings look, and often act, like peers, but unlike peers, they cannot dissolve the relationship in response to frequent conflicts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Love Them and Hate Them: The Developmental Appropriateness of Ambivalence in the Adolescent Sibling Relationship

Campione‐Barr

Killoren

2019

Child Dev Perspectives

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The quality of sibling relationships has important implications for each sibling's development, and not always in the expected ways, because both conflict and intimacy are associated with both positive and negative developmental outcomes. Additionally, these relationship qualities do not occur in isolation since sibling relationships are known as the quintessential love-hate relationship. The ambivalence (i.e., coexistence of positive and negative feelings) siblings experience toward one another during childhood and adolescence and the prevalence of this feeling make the sibling relationship unique. Ambivalence in the sibling relationship during adolescence is developmentally appropriate and may benefit individuals throughout life. In this article, we argue that adolescence is the tipping point in the sibling relationship that sets the stage for how healthy and engaged, or distant and uninvolved, relationships with siblings become in adulthood. KEYWORDS-siblings; adolescenceUnsurprising to the more than 80% of youth who grow up with a sibling, sibling relationships are often considered the quintessential love-hate relationship. It is this ambivalence, or the coexistence of positive and negative feelings toward one another, that is often considered one of the unique hallmarks of siblinghood. While ambivalence in other close relationships (e.g., parent-child relationships, friendships, romantic liaisons) is considered suboptimal, we argue in this article that the ambivalent nature of the sibling relationship, particularly during adolescence, is both relationally and developmentally appropriate, and can have unique costs and benefits.Research and theory suggest that all close relationships must involve balancing positivity and negativity or conflict and closeness. From a social relational perspective, Collins and Laursen (1992) suggest that how much conflict or negativity a relationship can handle is determined by the type of relationship. Closed-field relationships (e.g., parent-child relationships, sibling relationships) are constrained by genetics, norms, or laws. Alternatively, open-field relationships (e.g., friendships, romantic relationships) are more likely to be voluntary and to form (and dissolve) at much faster rates. Given these distinct traits, closedfield relationships can withstand greater conflict or negativity than open-field relationships.As closed-field relationships, sibling relationships can withstand more conflict and intensity of affect than other egalitarian relationships (e.g., those with friends, romantic partners). Additionally, while parent-child relationships can also withstand more conflict than relationships with peers, siblings are likely able to withstand greater ambivalence than parents and children because of the more imbalanced hierarchy children have with their parents. Over the course of adolescence, the parent-child power imbalance shifts, and at least until autonomy is achieved, youth are at a disadvantage in terms of making decisions within the relationship. Relationships wit...

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Section: Developmental Importance Of Adolescencementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Love Them and Hate Them: The Developmental Appropriateness of Ambivalence in the Adolescent Sibling Relationship

Campione‐Barr

Killoren

2019

Child Dev Perspectives

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“…Future studies are needed to investigate changes in the quality of sibling relationships from preschool to early school age while considering effects of birth order and sex constellation, information that was not available in this study. Although sibling relationships may become increasingly egalitarian throughout adolescence [26,83], siblings still perceive an imbalance of power at early school age [42,83]. Older siblings were reported to be more dominant [42,84], while younger siblings start standing up to their older siblings in accordance with advances in their social competence, which may increase sibling conflict [83].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Formal School Entry on Children’s Social Relationships with Parents, Siblings, and Friends

2021

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The normative transition to formal schooling confronts children with social challenges but also opportunities. Longitudinal research on how school entry impacts children’s family and friend-ship relationships is scarce. This study investigated social relationship qualities with parents, siblings, and friends among 1110 children (49.9% female) from the prospective, population-based Bavarian Longitudinal Study at 6 years (before school entry) and 8 years using a forced-choice card-sorting task. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed significant effects of age (i.e., school entry) on social relationship qualities with mothers (Pillai’s Trace (PT) = 0.28, F(9, 1101) = 47.73, p < 0.001), fathers (PT = 0.14, F(9, 1101) = 19.47, p < 0.001), siblings (PT = 0.27, F(9, 1101) = 46.14, p < 0.001), and friends (PT = 0.21, F(9, 1101) = 32.57, p < 0.001). On average, children reported higher levels of parental comfort after school entry. Companionable qualities increased in relationships with friends, whereas sibling relationships became more conflictual from preschool to early school age. Findings provide unique insights into how social relationships develop from preschool to early school age, supporting evidence of the growing importance of friends. Conflict was predominant and increasing in sibling relationships and should be considered more in future research.

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“…Moreover, sibling relationships show dynamic changes with age. Sibling relationships transform across time from hierarchical interactions in childhood and adolescence to egalitarian exchanges by adulthood, indicating relative power changes over time (Campione-Barr, 2017;Lindell and Campione-Barr, 2017). Regarding the characteristics mentioned above, the dominant pattern of sibling interactions may vary according to specific combinations of siblings with different characters and ages.…”

Section: Sibling Relationships: As a Unique Context For Children's Dementioning

confidence: 99%

A Reciprocal and Dynamic Development Model for the Effects of Siblings on Children’s Theory of Mind

et al. 2020

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In the field of social influences on Theory of Mind (ToM), more research has focused on the role of parents, but less research has examined the impact of siblings on children's social understanding. We review existing research related to what factors might affect sibling-ToM association and how these potential factors affect ToM. Based on the literature review, we propose an integrative model that unites three categories of factors (i.e., sibling structural variables, sibling individual variables, parental intervening variables) that might have effects on the sibling-ToM association and highlights mental-state talks during sibling interactions at the intersection of sibling-related variables and ToM. Furthermore, we propose some issues arising from this review that need to be clarified in future studies. Specifically, we hope to clarify the specific effects of older and younger siblings on children's understanding of human minds, the similarities and differences of sibling-ToM association under different cultural backgrounds, and the impact of family social disadvantage (e.g., lower SES) on the sibling-ToM association. All these works would benefit from the verification, revision, and expansion of our reciprocal influence model for the sibling-ToM association.

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The Changing Nature of Power, Control, and Influence in Sibling Relationships

Cited by 22 publications

References 18 publications

Love Them and Hate Them: The Developmental Appropriateness of Ambivalence in the Adolescent Sibling Relationship

Love Them and Hate Them: The Developmental Appropriateness of Ambivalence in the Adolescent Sibling Relationship

The Impact of Formal School Entry on Children’s Social Relationships with Parents, Siblings, and Friends

A Reciprocal and Dynamic Development Model for the Effects of Siblings on Children’s Theory of Mind

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