Attachment Representations, Parental Differential Treatment and Sibling Relationships

The purpose of this review is to examine the literature on siblings and sibling relationships. To outline the importance of this under-researched field the review details the link between sibling relationship quality and individual psychosocial outcome. Initial research into the area started with investigations of the influence of structural variables and temperament on sibling relationship quality but found that they explained only a small proportion of the variance in sibling relationship quality. Associations between sibling relationships and peer relationships have been found but as yet no studies investigated the direction of causality. The nature of the parentchild relationship has been found to be a strong predictor of the quality of the sibling relationship. Further investigations have discovered that how parents treat children differently is not only related to the quality of the sibling relationship but also to psychosocial adjustment. Where greater differential experience is perceived it is associated with poorer sibling relationship quality and more problem behaviours.