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• 1. [Article] Children's preceptions of parental responses to sibling quarrels and the qualities of sibling relationships

  Children in middle childhood were surveyed in elementary schools to explore possible associations between their perceptions about certain characteristics of their sibling relationships and the ways in ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Children's preceptions of parental responses to sibling quarrels and the qualities of sibling relationships Author: Ozretich, Rachel A. Children in middle childhood were surveyed in elementary schools to explore possible associations between their perceptions about certain characteristics of their sibling relationships and the ways in which their parents responded to sibling quarrels. An instrument was developed to measure perceptions of types of parental responses and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire was used to assess sibling conflict, warmth/closeness, and perceptions of parental partiality. Factor analyses revealed that the parental responses of punishing, prohibiting, and group discipline were closely related, reflecting a single dimension (alpha=.81). Labeled restricting, regression analyses indicated that this type of parental response to sibling quarrels was a strong positive predictor of sibling conflict, a negative predictor of sibling warmth/closeness, and unrelated to perceptions of parental partiality. The contributions of the other types of parental responses to the aspects of sibling relationships studied were different for girls and boys. Parental referring to family rules contributed positively to girls' sibling conflict, and negatively to sibling warmth/closeness. Parental mediating conciliation, particularly by mothers, was a strong positive predictor of boys' sibling warmth/closeness. Parental mediating conciliation negatively contributed to boys' sibling conflict, particularly fathers' mediating conciliation. Nonintervention by parents, particularly fathers' nonintervention, was a strong positive predictor of boys' sibling conflict, and contributed positively to boys' perceptions of parental partiality, as well. However, among girls, fathers' nonintervention positively contributed to sibling warmth/closeness and negatively contributed to partiality. Boys perceived more sibling conflict than girls, but other sibling constellation and family structure variables did not contribute significantly to the aspects of sibling relationships studied. Title: Children's preceptions of parental responses to sibling quarrels and the qualities of sibling relationships Author: Ozretich, Rachel A. Children in middle childhood were surveyed in elementary schools to explore possible associations between their perceptions about certain characteristics of their sibling relationships and the ways in which their parents responded to sibling quarrels. An instrument was developed to measure perceptions of types of parental responses and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire was used to assess sibling conflict, warmth/closeness, and perceptions of parental partiality. Factor analyses revealed that the parental responses of punishing, prohibiting, and group discipline were closely related, reflecting a single dimension (alpha=.81). Labeled restricting, regression analyses indicated that this type of parental response to sibling quarrels was a strong positive predictor of sibling conflict, a negative predictor of sibling warmth/closeness, and unrelated to perceptions of parental partiality. The contributions of the other types of parental responses to the aspects of sibling relationships studied were different for girls and boys. Parental referring to family rules contributed positively to girls' sibling conflict, and negatively to sibling warmth/closeness. Parental mediating conciliation, particularly by mothers, was a strong positive predictor of boys' sibling warmth/closeness. Parental mediating conciliation negatively contributed to boys' sibling conflict, particularly fathers' mediating conciliation. Nonintervention by parents, particularly fathers' nonintervention, was a strong positive predictor of boys' sibling conflict, and contributed positively to boys' perceptions of parental partiality, as well. However, among girls, fathers' nonintervention positively contributed to sibling warmth/closeness and negatively contributed to partiality. Boys perceived more sibling conflict than girls, but other sibling constellation and family structure variables did not contribute significantly to the aspects of sibling relationships studied. Close