Maternal Regulation of Sibling Interactions in the Preschool Years: Observational Study in Japanese Families

Abstract

Characteristics of three maternal regulating behaviors--(1) reference to one sibling's actions or emotional states toward the other sibling, (2) encouragement of sibling interactions, (3) distraction of one sibling's attention away from the other sibling-and their associations with children's positive and negative behaviors toward their siblings were investigated through semistructured home observations for 40 sibling pairs (1-4 years, 2-8 years) and their mothers in Japanese families. Maternal regulating behaviors were observed more frequently when the younger sibling was still in an early developmental stage in the preschool years, although the findings were modest. The older sibling's negative behaviors toward the younger sibling positively correlated with maternal distraction toward the younger; alternatively, the younger sibling's negative behaviors do not correlate with maternal distraction but do correlate with maternal encouragement directed toward the older sibling. Reliable associations were found between maternal regulating behaviors and prosocial exchanges between siblings; maternal reference to the younger sibling's actions or emotional states directed toward the older sibling was associated with the older sibling's positive behavior toward the younger sibling. Maternal regulating behaviors during mother-sibling triadic interactions were associated with the quality of sibling relationships.

Emotions and Social Development in Childhood

“…Emerging research suggests that Japanese mothers also talk to their preschoolers about emotions (Clancy, 1999 ;Kojima, 2000 ;Sonoda & Muto, 1996 ). Their emotion language has similar functions as Americans ' -to instruct toddlers and preschoolers about emotional meanings, to negotiate, and to explain the feelings of one sibling to another.…”

‘You be the big sister’: Maternal‐preschooler internal state discourse, perspective‐taking, and sibling caretaking

“…Within the context of social relationships young children may have extensive opportunities to demonstrate their level of understanding of highly affective situations or behaviours (Dunn, 1996;Harris, 1994). By engaging in conversations about affective situations, children may become attuned to particular circumstances or situations that provoke internal states and, thus learn to identify, appraise, and respond appropriately (Kojima, 2000). Sibling interaction has been highlighted as critical in this process (Harris, 1994), because of the strong emotional features associated with daily and practical types of exchanges (e.g.…”

“…In fact, researchers have demonstrated that maternal internal state language was related to individual differences in preschoolers' frequency of positive sibling interactions and internal state language at home (Howe and Ross, 1990;Kojima, 2000). However, an association between maternal internal state language during ongoing family interaction at home and sibling perspective-taking and caretaking in a laboratory setting was not demonstrated (Howe and Ross, 1990).…”

Determination of Prosocial Behavior of Preschool-Aged Children in the Context of Preschool Education

“…Similarly, Belden, Kuebli, Pauley and Kindleberger (2003) found that questions from mothers about emotional responses, states of mind or interpretations of their children about motivation for good deeds that their child had done in the past correlate positively with children's empathy. In addition, Denham and Grout (1992) found that the prosocial behavior of preschoolers was positively related to mothers' tendencies to explain their grief, and Kojima (2000) found that the prosocial behavior of young children in sibling relationships was positively related to mothers alerting their children about the actions and emotional states of their siblings. However, I must point out that a positive link between parental conversation about emotions and prosocial tendencies has not been found in all studies (Eisenberg, Fabes, Schaller, Carlo, Miller 1991, Garner, Jones, Gaddy, Rennie 1997, Eisenberg, Losoya et al 2001.…”

“…Tucker and his colleagues (1999) found out that personal qualities and experiences of sibling relationships of older siblings were related to the empathy of younger sisters, but not younger brothers (Searcy, Eisenberg 1992). A study targeting Japanese children showed positive prosocial behavior of siblings towards each other (Kojima 2000). Conversely, Dunn and Munn (1986) found very little correlation between the prosocial behavior of older and younger siblings (Bryant, Crockenberg 1980), despite the fact that the cooperation and prosocial behavior of younger siblings were positively related to the provision of favors and the cooperation of older siblings.…”