Measurement of Sibling Violence

Abstract

The measurement of violence is a major challenge in aggression research. Because of the heterogeneous nature of violent behavior, problems arise when applying blanket measures to inherently distinct subtypes of aggression. Incidents of intersibling violence (ISV) exacerbate these problems because siblinghood represents a unique offender–victim situation. This research explored whether an existing two-factor model for severe violence found in a sample of 250 adult offenders (age M = 26.8, SD = 5.9) could be generalized to deliberate severe ISV in a sample of 111 young offenders (age M = 14.83, SD = 1.45). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor model encompassing severe ISV perpetration with weapon use (Factor 1) and severe ISV perpetration without weapon use (Factor 2). The results provide strong empirical support for the two-factor model of violence severity previously established with adult offenders. This analysis demonstrates construct validity of the severity measures among the different types of offenders studied and provides support for generalization across populations.

Adolescents as perpetrators of aggression within the family

“…The present study extended prior research findings (Ibabe, Arnoso, & Elgorriaga, 2014;Khan & Cooke, 2013) by examining aggression perpetrated by two mental health samples and the use of weapons. Prior research that had examined family aggression among juvenile offenders found that the majority of the sample had used a weapon (i.e., heavy or sharp objects) to perpetrate aggression (Khan & Cooke, 2013), while research that examined clinic-referred youth found no weapon use (Nock & Kazdin, 2002).…”

“…Recently, perpetration of aggression toward family members by young people has been the focus of research which seeks to understand inter-sibling aggression (Khan & Cooke, 2013) and aggression toward parents (Ibabe, Jaurequizar, & Diaz, 2009). Based on prevalence data, sibling aggression is the most common form of aggression at home (Eriksen & Jensen, 2006).…”

“…A study conducted with youths who were detained for committing antisocial or aggressive behavior found that almost 90% (n=111) had admitted to committing severe aggression toward their siblings. About 80% forcefully punched their siblings, 72.9% forcefully kicked or bite their siblings, and 57.6% had thrown heavy or sharp objects at their siblings (Khan & Cooke, 2013). Thus, the most common type of aggression perpetrated toward siblings was physical.…”

Aggression between siblings: Associations with the home environment and peer bullying

“…The use of differing terminology, such as aggression, violence, abuse, bullying, or rivalry, to describe aggressive sibling interactions illustrates the lack of agreement between researchers (Eriksen & Jensen, 2009;Krienert & Walsh, 2011). Furthermore, there are ongoing debates concerning key definitional and operational features, such as the need to incorporate concepts of intent or repetition into the definition (Khan & Cooke, 2013), and whether behavior should be categorized according to severity to distinguish between mild and more severe forms of sibling aggression (Eriksen & Jensen, 2009;Khan & Cooke, 2013). These issues are still some way from being resolved, and at present there appears to be no standard definition or means of measuring aggression between siblings; therefore studies differ notably in the types of behavior they consider to constitute sibling aggression.…”

“…In comparison to the study of peer aggression, sibling aggression has received less research attention (Eriksen & Jensen, 2009;Skinner & Kowalski, 2013); however, recently there appears to be a renewed interest in the subject, marked by attempts to more clearly define and document the extent of aggression among siblings (e.g. Khan & Cooke, 2013;Wolke & Skew, 2012).…”