ABSTRACT
Dunn, Judy. Sibling Relationships in Early Childhood. Child Development, 1983, 54, 787–8ll. This review considers (1) recent evidence on the nature of sibling interaction from observational studies of preschool children and (2) the developmental implications of this evidence. Sibling interaction is discussed in terms of “reciprocal” and “complementary” interaction. Sibling influence is most plausibly associated with the reciprocal features of the relationship and with sociocognitive development. “Sibling status” variables, the focus of previous research, are not consistently related to the reciprocal but to the complementary features, which are probably of less developmental significance. Research into the origins of the marked individual differences between siblings must take account of the mutual influence of parental and sibling relationships, not solely sibling status variables.
