Sibling family practices: guidelines for healthy boundaries.
A questionnaire was given to 500 mental health and child welfare professionals asking for maximum acceptable ages for siblings to engage jointly in certain family practices related to hygiene, affection, and privacy. A large proportion of respondents felt it was never acceptable for siblings to take showers together (40%), kiss on the mouth (37%), or toilet together (32%). Some significant differences occurred based on the gender of the older sibling within sets of same gender or mixed gender pairs, with older brothers being acceptable up to lower ages than older sisters. The effects of child abuse, age, race, and the amount of education on the respondents' answers are investigated. The limitations of the age guidelines are discussed.
toni@tcavjohn.com
Toni Cavanagh
TC
Johnson
Bevan Emma
BE
Huang
Pippa M
PM
Simpson
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010550:Personal Space; D011159:Population Surveillance; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012801:Sibling Relations; D035781:Siblings; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States