title: Marital conflict and differential treatment of siblings.
abstract: Sibling differential experience of the family environment has recently come to the forefront of both the family and the developmental literatures. One hypothesized determinant of such treatment is marital conflict. The present report used structural family therapy as a theoretical framework to examine the relation between marital conflict and differential treatment of siblings in a sample of married couples with preschool and elementary-school children. The results did find a significant, though modest, relation between marital conflict and differential treatment, suggesting that positive marital communication in an environment of mutual respect serves to lower the rate of differential treatment of siblings within the family.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58105, USA. jdeal@badlands.nodak.edu
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Deal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000378:Agonistic Behavior; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003142:Communication; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D017008:Negotiating; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires