The study of siblings has become increasingly central to developmental science. Sibling relationships have unique effects on development, and sibling designs allow researchers to isolate causal mechanisms in development. This volume emphasizes causal mechanisms in the social domain. We review the preceding chapters in relation to six topics: a…

The middle school years are a period of increased risk for youths' engagement in antisocial behaviors, substance use, and affiliation with deviant peers (Dishion & Patterson, 2006). This study examined the specific role of parental monitoring and of family relationships (mother, father, and sibling) that are all critical to the deterrence of…

Teasing is often regarded as a rite of passage, a normal and common activity of childhood. Yet teasing is a complex relational issue involving many elements, such as intent, verbal utterances, nonverbal behavior, meaning, interpretation, and emotional affect. Teasing within the sibling relationship can be a source of great parental frustration, as…

Guided by an ecological perspective, two competing models were tested to examine how sibling relationship quality directly predicted or interacted with academic support from siblings to predict Latino adolescents' academic motivation (N = 258). Gender differences were examined utilizing multiple group analysis in structural equation modeling.…

Using data collected from an urban Southern Visayan province during the Summer of 2006, this study examines a sample of 133 Filipino fathers to consider potential relationships between father behaviors and child outcomes. Increased paternal psychological control predicts increased problematic child outcomes, with sons being more affected than…

This article contributes to the recent, but still limited, literature on the sociology of sibship. It argues that during childhood the ambivalent love/hate nature of sibship is played out through the sharing of knowledge, time and space. It draws on the work of Goffman to illustrate that children's sibling interactions tend to consist of…

Social and play skills are important developmental tasks for young children. Typically developing children learn appropriate social skills quite naturally and without specific intervention while interacting with other children in playful environments. Young children with disabilities, however, usually need social skills interventions, and these…

This study of 59 undergraduate men and 85 undergraduate women explored how defining emotional and physical sibling abuse affected the frequency of reported sibling abuse. In addition, the current study examined how the emotional context of the sibling relationship (i.e., rivalry and conflict) moderated the relationship between sibling abuse and…

This study investigated associations between sibling relationships and adjustment among 179 African American adolescent siblings (controlling for family factors) and tested moderating effects of familism values and birth order. Two-level random intercept models revealed that familism values moderated sibling relationship-adjustment linkages,…

Data were collected from 708 adult children nested within 274 later-life families from the Within-Family Differences Study to explore the role of perceived maternal favoritism in the quality of sibling relations in midlife. Mixed-model analyses revealed that regardless of which sibling was favored, perceptions of current favoritism and…

The centrality of quality education provisioning for all towards a better and socially just life is acknowledged globally. To date, however, there are still skewed gender differentials unfavourable to girls, thus impeding gender equality. In this paper I report on the reasons for leaving school early cited by out-of-school girls in North-West…

Siblings represent an important social influence on alcohol use in adolescence. That said, there is a need for studies that examine potential mechanisms by which siblings exert an influence on the likelihood of drinking in adolescence. This paper illustrates a method that utilizes videotaped interaction between sibling dyads along with a micro…

The influence of birth order on personality and sibling rivalry is controversial; little research has been conducted into academic sibling rivalry, and none into the connection with personality traits. This study considers the interaction of all three factors. Firstborns (N=22) and lastborns (N=24) completed online personality tests and an…

Siblings have considerable influence on one another's development throughout childhood, yet most human development research has neglected sibling socialization. Through this volume, we aim to enhance our understanding of how siblings play formative roles in one another's social and emotional development. We examine the mechanisms by which children…

Siblings are important sources of social influence throughout childhood and adolescence. Nevertheless, the processes by which siblings influence one another remain relatively unexplored. We highlight two theories of sibling influence--sibling deidentification and social learning--that offer insights as to how and why siblings develop similar and…