My Brother’s Keeper? The Sibling Subsystem in the Context of Physical and Sexual Child Abuse

Abstract

The sibling subsystem is of central importance and a possible protective factor for children. Nevertheless, it remains surprisingly understudied and lacks any theoretical or conceptual framework. The current study explored the sibling subsystem in the context of child abuse (CA). Thorough thematic analysis was conducted on the narratives of 30 children referred to forensic interviews following suspected physical or sexual abuse by a parent. Aged 4–14, all had at least one sibling each and referred to this sibling during their interviews in the specific context of the CA they had experienced. Their narratives shed light on two dynamics that can characterize the sibling subsystem in the context of CA: compensation and spillover of the trauma into the sibling subsystem. They stress the centrality of the sibling subsystem in the children’s lives and the siblings’ role in the children's survival of CA. The current study’s findings emphasize the urgency of continuing to develop studies in this area, as they will likely contribute to both prevention and intervention efforts.

‘You need to understand the extent of the bubble we grew up in’: The religio‐cultural aspects of sibling's sexual dynamics—Perspectives of Orthodox Jewish adults

“…The literature on the experiences of those involved in sibling sexual relationships has been expanding in recent years (e.g., Katz & Tener, 2021) The resulting sample consisted of 20 adults (13 women and 7 men) from the Jewish Orthodox community in Israel, ranging in age from 20 to 68, who experienced sexual interaction with one or more of their siblings as children. Thirteen of the participants define themselves as Orthodox today and seven have left the religious world.…”

“…The literature on the experiences of those involved in sibling sexual relationships has been expanding in recent years (e.g., Katz & Tener, 2021) but does not emphasize the role of religious culture in the phenomenon. The present study aims to fill this theoretical gap by obtaining the emic viewpoints of siblings involved in SSD within the Jewish Orthodox community in Israel.…”

Siblings’ Perspectives of the Impact of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure on Sibling and Family Relationships

“…These theories serve to explicate research findings on how siblings are negatively impacted, both in the short term and long term, by exposure to maltreatment of a family member, such as domestic violence or violence toward a sibling. For example, Teicher and Vitaliano (2011) reported that witnessing violence toward a sibling is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatization, anger‐hostility, dissociation, and “limbic irritability.” Few published papers have directly focused on the psychological impact of CSA on nonabused siblings and these have primarily focused on child siblings (Hill, 2003; Katz & Hamama, 2018; Schreier et al., 2017; Tener & Katz, 2021). Such papers have highlighted the psychological impact of CSA on nonabused siblings and the need to include these children in therapeutic responses to CSA.…”

Prosocial behaviour between siblings exposed to intimate partner violence

“…A substantial body of work over the past three decades has documented the negative influence of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's adjustment (Carter et al., 2020). Unfortunately, much less is known about how exposure to IPV impacts children's sibling relationships (Katz & Tener, 2020). It has been widely demonstrated that siblings are important influences on children's social, emotional, and cognitive development (Kramer et al., 2019), as well as on their mental health and well‐being, particularly in contexts of adversity (Osher et al., 2020).…”

“…First, as noted, past research has found these linkages in families without a history of IPV (Buist & Vermande, 2014). Second, these linkages may reflect the buffering or compensatory role siblings sometimes play under adverse circumstances (Katz & Tener, 2020). Therefore, the second goal of our investigation was to empirically explore if sibling warmth was significantly associated with prosocial behaviour between siblings exposed to IPV.…”