Sibling conflicts sometimes harm trust and communication
April 6th, 2010 - 1:39 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Apr 6 (ANI): Siblings fight over trivial issues like picking up clothes, who gets a larger share of cake, etc.. However, a recent study has said that certain types of fights, no matter how innocent they seem to be, can affect the quality of sibling relationships.
University of Missouri researchers identified two major types of conflict among adolescent siblings and found that conflicts about personal space have a negative impact on trust and communication between siblings.
“The first conflict area we found includes issues about physical and emotional personal space, such as borrowing items without asking and hanging around when older siblings have friends over,” said Nicole Campione-Barr.
“When these issues were present, both younger and older siblings reported less trust and communication. The second conflict area includes equality and fairness issues, such as taking turns and sharing responsibilities. These conflicts had no impact on relationship quality,” she added.
While both younger and older siblings reported personal space conflicts, older siblings reported these conflicts more frequently, according to the researchers.
This suggests that older siblings are more sensitive to personal space issues and may indicate the beginning of their separation from the family.
The findings of the study can help parents, psychologists and other individuals who work with teens understand the impact that conflicts can have on sibling relationships.
Researchers have suggested that parents should set up family boundaries to reduce sibling conflicts about personal space.
“Parents need to establish and enforce family rules about respecting privacy, personal space and property. However, when sibling conflicts occur, there needs to be negotiations between siblings. Previous research tells us that parents should step aside because they have a tendency to make matters worse,” said Campione-Barr.
In the study, researchers interviewed and surveyed pairs of siblings, ages 8-20.
The study has been published in Child Development. (ANI)
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Tags: adolescent, campione, conflict, equality, fairness issues, family boundaries, negative impact, negotiations, personal space, previous research, psychologists, relationship quality, sibling conflicts, sibling relationships, siblings, space issues, study researchers, tendency, trivial issues, university of missouri