Sibling relationship quality: its causes and consequences.
Current work on children's individual characteristics and family processes that contribute to variation in sibling relationship quality is reviewed. Findings from these studies are summarized in a heuristic model that specifies hypothesized links among family processes, intrapersonal characteristics, and variations in sibling relationship quality. The model is designed to provide researchers with a host of hypotheses to test and refine in future studies. The contributions that sibling relationships may make to cognitive and psychosocial development are then reviewed, with a suggestion that sibling relationships comprised of a balance of both prosocial and conflicted interactions create experiences that are most likely to nurture children's social, cognitive, and psychosocial development.
Brody
G H
GH
Department of Child and Family Development, University of Georgia, Athens 30602, USA. gbrody@uga.cc.uga.edu
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005192:Family Health; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012951:Socialization; D013694:Temperament