Do Siblings Matter Independent of Both Parents and Friends? Sympathy as a Mediator Between Sibling Relationship Quality and Adolescent Outcomes

Abstract

The study explored whether sibling affection and hostility were longitudinally associated with adolescents' prosocial, externalizing, and depressive behaviors, after controlling for parent-child and best friend relationship quality. Sympathy was examined as a possible mediator. Three hundred and eight randomly selected families completed Waves 3, 4, and 5 of the Flourishing Families Project. Multiple group comparison via structural equation modeling compared differences between girls and boys. Sibling affection (T3) was positively associated with adolescents' sympathy (T4) and prosocial behavior (T5). Sibling hostility (T3) was positively associated with adolescents' depression (T5) and externalizing behavior (T5) (for boys only), even after controlling for parent and friend relationships. Discussion focuses on the unique role of the sibling relationship on adolescent development.

The Development of Empathic Concern in Siblings: A Reciprocal Influence Model

“…Early work by Dunn, Brown, and Maguire () and Dunn and Munn () demonstrated that warm, positive interactions with older siblings in early childhood were correlated with higher levels of cooperation and prosocial moral judgments in younger siblings at later ages. Subsequent cross‐sectional and longitudinal research, conducted with older children and adolescents using self‐ and parent‐reports, has also documented positive links between aspects of the sibling relationship and children's empathy and prosocial behavior (Harper, Padilla‐Walker, & Jensen, ; Lam et al., ; Pike, Coldwell, & Dunn, ; Tucker et al., ).…”

“…Although these findings suggest that siblings are implicated in children's empathy development, the conclusions that can be drawn from this existing work are constrained by methodological limitations. First, previous studies have primarily utilized cross‐sectional designs (Pike et al., ; Tucker et al., ), longitudinal models testing concurrent correlations (Lam et al., ), or have examined links between constructs over time without controlling for each siblings’ prior behavior (Dunn & Munn, ; Dunn et al., ; Harper et al., ). Unfortunately, such designs do not allow researchers to disentangle the unique contribution of older and younger siblings on the other's later development independent of other confounding variables (e.g., within‐sibling stability in empathy, shared exposure to parenting practices; Steele, Rasbash, & Jenkins, ).…”

“…Observational assessments are particularly important given the social desirability biases associated with self‐reports of empathy (Eisenberg et al., ), and to ensure that sibling similarities are not simply the result of shared method variance stemming from the same parent reporting on multiple family members. Finally, the few studies to have explicitly examined empathy‐related responding (rather than other constructs relevant to moral development) have targeted older children and adolescents (Harper et al., ; Lam et al., ; Tucker et al., ), despite the toddler and preschool years representing a critical period for the emergence of individual differences in empathic dispositions (Eisenberg et al., ).…”

“…A similar process likely occurs in the sibling relationship; experiencing more intimate, supportive sibling relationships may facilitate a greater willingness to adopt the caring and comforting tendencies of the other (Dunn et al., ). Affectionate sibling relationships are associated with greater prosociality and empathy (Harper et al., ; Lam et al., ; Pike & Oliver, ), and buffer against the deleterious effects of environmental stressors on children's adjustment (Dirks et al., ; Gass, Jenkins, & Dunn, ). The extent to which supportive relationships alter the influence of siblings on each others’ positive developmental outcomes has received less attention (Whiteman et al., , ).…”

The relation between young children's physiological arousal and their motivation to help others

“…Romano et al, 2005). For instance, children with siblings show more prosocial behaviour than firstborns or single children (e.g., Harper et al, 2014). In addition, different parenting styles have been linked to societal milieu and influence the development of prosocial behaviour (Liebenwein, 2008;Zahn-Waxler et al, 1979; see also Brooks-Gunn et al, 1993, for effects of neighborhood on children's development).…”