Children with Atypical Siblings

Sibling and Peer Relationships in Childhood

“…Intervention studies that might clarify the issue of direction of effects have been carried out. but they have been small in scale (for a review, see Brody & Stoneman, 1983).…”

Sibling Quarrels and Maternal Intervention: Individual Differences in Understanding and Aggression

“…not only increase the likelihood of quarrels recurring but deprive their children of the opportunity to learn to resolve their conflicts independently. A number of small scale intervention studies aimed at testing this view have been carried out; their results suggest that training parents to stay out of sibling fights can lead to a decrease in such conflict (Kelly & Main, 1979;Leitenberg, Burchard, Burchard, Fuller & Lysaght, 1977;Levi, Buskila & Gerzi, 1977; see also Brody & Stoneman, 1983 for a review of such studies). On the other hand there is also evidence to suggest that if parents draw children's attention forcefully and consistently to the consequences for other people of their own aggressive actions, altruistic and empathetic responses to th^ distress of others are fostered (Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow & King, 1979).…”

Sibling Influences on Childhood Development

“…However, the direction of effects in the parent intervention/sibling conflict connection is by no means clear. Small-scale intervention studies (Kelly & Main, 1979;Leitenberg, Burchard, Burchard, Fuller & Lysaght, 1977;Levi, Buskila & Gerzi, 1977; for review see Brody & Stoneman, 1983) have been interpreted as supporting the argument against parental intervention (Brody & Stoneman, 1988). Of course it is likely that if parents "stay out" of sibling disputes they are less likely to distribute blame and comfort-and thus are less likely to behave differentially towards the children.…”

“…The question of whether the experience of having a disabled or sick sibling influences children's adjustment and development is one of obvious practical and social importance. There is an extensive literature on the development and adjustment of the siblings of handicapped or sick children; for recent reviews of research on siblings of handicapped children see Brody and Stoneman (1983), Lobato (1983), McHale, Simeonsson and Sloan, (1984), Rodger (1985); for reviews on siblings of chronically sick children see Drotar and Crawford (1985) and McKeever (1983), Van Dongen-Melman and Sanders-Woudstra (1986); see also a special issue oi the Journal of Children in Contemporary Society, 1987. The literature on families with handicapped children documents the extent of emotional adjustment in the normal siblings and its relation to socioeconomic factors (Farber, 1959;Gath, 1974;Grossman, 1972), family structure variables such as gender, ordinal position and age gap (Breslau, Wietzman & Messenger, 1981;Cleveland & Miller, 1977;Faber, 1959;Farber & Ryckman, 1965;Gath, 1974;Grossman, 1972), parental attitudes (Caldwell & Guze, 1960;Grossman, 1972), quality of marital and parent-child relationships (Ferrari, 1984;McHale & Gamble, 1988) and extent of handicap (Breslau, Weitzman & Messenger, 1981;Grossman, 1972).…”