Laurie Kramer

Objective: To address the gap in evidence‐based resources for improving children's sibling relationships, this study examined the differential effectiveness of an established program for families seeking prevention versus intervention services. Background: The More Fun With Sisters and Brothers Program has been shown in multiple randomized control studies to strengthen sibling relationships and child and parent emotion regulation. However, similar to other programs, little is known about its effectiveness for helping families improve versus maintain sibling relationship quality. With distinct goals, these two groups may require disparate resources that target different interpersonal processes. Method: Based on a holistic assessment, 86 mothers of two children aged 4 to 8 years were classified as either seeking prevention ( n = 38) or intervention ( n = 48) services. The two groups' reports of program implementation, sibling relationship quality, child and maternal emotion regulation, and coparenting were compared across the four‐lesson online program. Results: Repeated measures analysis of covariance revealed that, after participation, the intervention‐seeking group perceived greater gains in sibling warmth and reduced agonism and rivalry along with better maternal emotional regulation than the prevention‐seeking group, who reported stable levels of these processes. Both groups reported gains in collaborative coparenting and older child emotion regulation. Conclusion: Results highlight the program's utility for promoting sibling relationship quality and maternal emotional regulation for intervention‐seeking families while also helping prevention‐seeking families maintain satisfactory levels of these processes. Implications: A “one size fits all” approach should give way to more personalized methods for providing siblings with the specific competencies they need to establish or maintain rewarding relationships.

Parents’ ability to manage intense emotions in the face of conflictual sibling interactions is a significant challenge that has been linked with various child and parent outcomes. With existing instruments focused on raising a single child, we lack validated instruments to assess dimensions of parental emotion regulation in the context of rearing siblings. We tested the factor structure, reliability, divergent and concurrent criterion validity of a new instrument designed to measure parental emotion regulation ( Parental Emotional Regulation in the Sibling Context Questionnaire ) while raising two or more children. Participants, 359 mothers from 35 countries, with two children aged 4- to 8-years, completed the new instrument along with established measures of parental emotion regulation, sibling relationship quality, and children’s emotion regulation. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the utility of the instrument in reliably assessing dimensions of parent emotional regulation (Reactivity and Dysregulation). Evidence for divergent validity stemmed from associations with an established measure of general emotion regulation strategies and evidence for concurrent criterion validity stemmed from associations with children’s sibling relationship quality. Findings have implications for the reliable identification of mothers who are facing emotion regulation difficulties, the design of customized intervention strategies, and the evaluation of prevention and intervention programs.

Objective: The purpose was to test a new evidence‐based online preventive intervention designed to help parents improve the sibling relationships of their 4‐ to 8‐year‐old children.Background: Few evidence‐based resources exist to address parents' concerns about fostering positive sibling relationships. To address this need, the emotion‐focused online program placed parents in the role of educator, preparing them to teach their children social and emotional competencies shown in previous research to promote prosocial sibling interaction.Method: Eighty‐six mothers provided assessments of children's sibling relationship quality, child and parent emotion regulation abilities, and coparenting quality prior to and following completion of four online lessons. A randomly assigned wait‐list control group of mothers (n = 49) provided comparable assessments.Results: Repeated measures multivariate analyses of covariance revealed that, following program completion, participants perceived their children to demonstrate greater sibling warmth and less agonism and rivalry. Effects were sustained at 3 months. Mothers also reported increased abilities to regulate their own emotions as well as greater collaboration and support in their coparenting relationship.Conclusion: Results support the effectiveness of the online More Fun with Sisters and Brothers Program for Parents for enabling mothers from diverse international communities to support positive sibling relationships.Implications: Increasing access to evidence‐based tools for strengthening sibling relationships can enable parents to support these vital lifelong bonds.

Little is known about how twins influence one another’s development during emerging adulthood. Although the exact mechanisms that underlie sibling influence have not been firmly established, they likely encompass processes that highlight either sibling identification (e.g., seeking similarities and imitation in the service of building cohesion) or deidentification (e.g., seeking differences that distinguish themselves to reduce competition, rivalry, and jealousy). Because past research inferred these processes rather than directly assess them, we conducted a mixed methods study in which 20 sets of monozygotic (MZ, n = 11 dyads) and dizygotic (DZ, n = 9 dyads) twins, aged 19.70 years (SD = 1.11), were interviewed individually regarding their personal identity development and sibling relationship. A grounded theory approach guided the qualitative analysis, which included coordinating twins’ interview responses at the dyadic level. Each twin also completed the Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire which provided a complementary quantitative assessment. 75% of the dyads prioritized differentiation and felt that college was the optimal time to pursue unique identities and goals. Those who prioritized seeking similarity were MZ twins who sought emotional closeness and support and attended the same college. Rather than pitting social learning and deidentification as opposing processes, the results suggest that deidentification is a developmental process in which twins increasingly take steps towards independence while seeking to retain the closeness, trust, and reliance they have long enjoyed in their relationship. Practical implications for helping twins balance their needs for autonomy and distinctiveness, while maintaining emotional closeness, are discussed.

This systematic review addresses the gap in the literature regarding sibling relationship quality among Latinx families, a topic that has not been comprehensively examined to date. This study aimed to synthesize current research on sibling relationship quality in Latinx families, focusing on the influence of cultural factors, identifying key variables associated with sibling relationship quality, and evaluating the methodological approaches used. This paper is a systematic review based on a recently published evidence and gap map (EGM) that identified and visually presented all published studies investigating sibling relationship quality. Additional inclusion criteria were applied to select articles that specifically examined sibling relationship quality in the United States samples with at least 50% Latinx participants. The review included 12 articles representing 6 distinct studies, revealing significant findings on the roles of familism, simpatía, and gender in shaping sibling dynamics. Results indicated that cultural values such as familism and simpatía positively influence sibling intimacy and warmth, while gender dynamics further moderate these relationships. Methodologically, the articles employed longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, utilizing various quantitative measures. The findings underscore the importance of culturally sensitive approaches in studying sibling relationships and highlight the need for further research to explore these dynamics in diverse Latinx subgroups.

Although conflict is a frequent and dynamic interpersonal process in children’s sibling relationships, ambivalence (i.e., combinations of, or shifts between, positive and negative behaviors and affects) may better characterize normative sibling interactions. Nonetheless, there is a general assumption that reducing conflict is the most effective mechanism for improving sibling relationships. This review argues that the focus on conflict as the predominant attribute of sibling relationships is misplaced and has served to overshadow research on other relationship processes; it has also handicapped the development of effective prevention and intervention tools. Strategies are presented for moving theory, research, and practice toward the identification and development of factors and social processes that promote prosocial forms of sibling engagement and manage conflict. Innovative strategies are needed on two fronts: to help young siblings set their relationship on a positive trajectory and to help them avoid or remediate conflictual interactions.

Siblings have considerable influence on one another's development throughout childhood, yet most human development research has neglected sibling socialization. Through this volume, we aim to enhance our understanding of how siblings play formative roles in one another's social and emotional development. We examine the mechanisms by which children are influenced by their brothers and sisters, clarify the ways in which these mechanisms of socialization are similar to and different from children's socialization experiences with parents, and consider the conditions under which sibling socialization results in positive versus negative consequences for individual development.

We examined the role of emotion regulation (ER) in improving sibling relationship quality (SRQ) by evaluating the More Fun With Sisters and Brothers Program where 4‐ to 8‐year‐old siblings from 95 families were taught emotional and social competencies. Parents reported on SRQ and ER, and sibling interactions were observed in homes. SRQ and ER improved for program participants (n = 55) in comparison to those in a wait list condition (n = 40). Children participating in the program needed less parental direction to control negative emotions and refrain from directing negative actions toward others following the program. Higher levels of ER were linked with more positive SRQ at posttest. Results highlight the value of strengthening children’s emotion regulation processes as a mechanism for promoting prosocial sibling relationships.