The assessment of childhood sibling relationships: varying perspectives on cooperation and conflict.
The levels of cooperation and conflict in the relationships of 40 sibling pairs, 11 to 14 years old, were explored from several different perspectives. Ratings of levels of cooperation and conflict in the sibling relationship were obtained from the participants, siblings, and mothers. Amounts of cooperation and conflict were also coded from responses to a projective story test that elicited perceptions of the relationship from each child, and from their conjoint performance on three interactive tasks. Either child's perspective on the sibling relationship evidenced more conflict and less cooperation relative to maternal evaluations. Interactive tasks revealed more cooperation, whereas projective stories revealed more conflict for these siblings. In addition, levels of cooperation varied by sex, birth order, and dyad type, whereas conflict levels differed only by dyad type.
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109.
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Graham-Bermann
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012801:Sibling Relations