Nchols, Sara
(2012)
My brother, my friend: Positive sibling relationships, peer acceptance, and internalizing problems in low-income boys.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
80% of American children grow up in a household with one or more siblings (Dunn, 2000). These relationships are known to be intense and highly affectively-charged (Dunn, 1983) and are many individuals’ longest-duration relationships, extending across the lifespan farther than most friendships, marital, or parental relationships (Dunn, 1998; Sroufe et al, 2005). A growing body of work suggests that sibling relationships contribute to children’s social, cognitive and emotional development, as well as to eventual psychopathology outcomes (Brody, 1998). The current study examines low-income boys’ sibling play interactions at age five as a predictor of their subsequent psychological adjustment in later childhood (N = 133). In particular, positive play is examined as a marker of high-quality sibling relationships. The study makes four primary contributions to the field: 1) Identifying child and family predictors of positive sibling interaction in a high-risk sample of young children observed during regular play; 2) Finding differences in positive sibling interactions between siblings with small and large age differences, older versus younger siblings, and African-American and European-American sibling dyads; 3) Demonstrating a relationship between positive sibling interaction at five years of age and absence of psychiatric diagnoses and fewer symptoms up to seven years later in boys at risk for psychopathology; and 4) Identifying the unique contributions of positive sibling relationships, independent of family functioning and peer relationships, in buffering against the development of psychopathology in this high-risk sample. Results suggest that sibling interactions and in particular, resolution of conflict and negative affect during sibling play, are important directions for continued examination and intervention.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
27 September 2012 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
17 July 2012 |
| Approval Date: |
27 September 2012 |
| Submission Date: |
8 August 2012 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
162 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Siblings; family relationships; Child psychopathology |
| Date Deposited: |
28 Sep 2012 01:44 |
| Last Modified: |
27 Sep 2017 05:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/13483 |
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