ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with research pertaining to sibling realtionships during middle childhood. It is proposed that sibling relationships during this time provide important developmental contexts. Historically, theorists first supposed that sibling relations were mediated through fundamental parent-child relations (e.g., the psychoanalytic notion that sibling rivalry is mediated by the desire for possession of the mother [Levy, 1943]) and thus that sibling influences were indirect. Thereafter, it was proposed that siblings can directly influence one another (Koch, 1956a, b, and c). Most recently it has been argued that parent-child as well as sibling-sibling interactions can mutually influence one another and thereby influence development in complex ways (Hartup, 1979). Thus, sibling relations are sometimes viewed as autonomous contexts; at other times, sibling relationships are seen as aspects of the more broadly defined family system. The importance of sibling relations in particular, as well as family relations in general, is based on the formulation that the nature of family relations is distinctly different from nonfamilial relations. Sibling and familial relations are thought to be distinguished from other peer generation and nonfamilial relations respectively, in the following ways: frequency and amount of interaction; durability of relations; existence of ascribed roles; accessibility; and, degree of common experiences (Cicirelli, 1976a). Thus, not only are sibling contexts defined by traditional sibling and family status indicators (e.g., sex of sibling, family size); the specific experiences provided by sibling relations during middle childhood define the sibling context as well. As such, the nature of sibling relationships will include sibling and family status indicators as well as actual internal and external (interpersonal interaction) experiences, both independent of and as part of the larger family system. As such, the relationship of these sibling relations to developmental concerns will be considered.
