Physical Aggression and Sexual Behavior Among Siblings: A Retrospective Study

Retrospective recall of physical aggression and sexual behavior among siblings was investigated. Participants described behaviors between themselves and siblings in the family, their estimation of the appropriateness of the behavior, and their current relationship with their siblings. Additionally, participants completed measures of family structure and stress. Results indicated that rates of physical aggression among siblings was high, with varying severity. Rates of sexual behavior were lower. For both physical and sexual behaviors, participants were more likely to believe that the behaviors were abusive in retrospect than when they actually occurred. No differences were found in family structure among abusive and nonabusive siblings, but siblings who reported physical or sexual behaviors also reported higher levels of intrafamilial stress. Certain types of stressors may predict particular sibling relationships.     

High Risk Behaviors Among Victims of Sibling Violence

Despite the fact that sibling abuse has been documented as the most common form of intrafamilial abuse, it has been largely overlooked. Using data from the 2007 Delaware Secondary School Student Survey (N = 8,122), this paper focuses on four objectives: to estimate prevalence of sibling abuse, examine the relationship between sibling violence and high risk behaviors such as substance use, delinquency and aggression, explore the interplay of sibling abuse and other forms of family violence in predicting high risk behaviors, and test theory. Results suggest that sibling violence occurs more frequently than other forms of child abuse. Results also confirm that sibling violence is significantly related to substance use, delinquency, and aggression. These effects remain significant after controlling for other forms of family violence. The data suggest support for feminist theory and social learning theory.     

All in the Family? Family Environment Factors in Sibling Violence

Sibling violence is presumed to be the most common form of family violence and the least studied. Based on data from “Physical Violence in American Families, 1976,” this paper assesses the family environment factors associated with sibling physical violence. Of a range of potential family influences, measures of family disorganization were the most significant predictors of sibling violence, overriding the characteristics of children or particular family demands. What mattered most to the occurrence of sibling violence was a child’s actual experience of physical violence at the hands of a parent, maternal disciplinary practices and whether husbands lose their temper. These findings point to the deleterious effect of corporal punishment, and suggest sibling violence in families is associated with more ominous family and gender dynamics.

Parental and Others’ Responses to Physical Sibling Violence: a Descriptive Analysis of Victims’ Retrospective Accounts

Although sibling abuse may be the most common form of family violence, relatively few studies have been conducted on this topic. The current exploratory study addressed this gap in the literature through analyses of thematic categories in sibling abuse narratives gathered from an online survey of sibling violence victims. All data was collected via an online survey. Participants who reported being victimized by physical sibling violence were asked to reflect on how others—family members, professionals, and friends—responded to knowledge of the abuse. Results demonstrate a need for general education about sibling violence, particularly for parents who might minimize or normalize their children’s violent conflicts. Additionally, parents need assistance in developing appropriate responses to sibling violence, as participants often perceived their parents to be ineffective at preventing or stopping the abuse. Finally, this study suggests that negative or unhelpful parental responses can be as harmful as the sibling violence itself.     

Big Five Personality Traits and Physical Aggression between Siblings in South Korea: an Actor-Partner Interdependence Analysis

The present study examined actor and partner effects of the Big Five personality traits, assessed by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, on physical aggression within sibling dyadic interactions. Data were collected from 86 target adolescents receiving counseling services, their mothers, and closest-age siblings in South Korea. Mothers rated their children’s personalities. Target adolescents and siblings reported their own personality, as well as their sibling’s and their own perpetration of physical aggression against one another. Substantial self-other (i.e., mother and sibling) agreement was found for personality traits. Both actor and partner effects were found for the negative associations between extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness and physical aggression among siblings. The current findings increase our understanding of personality traits implicated in physical aggression in general, and specifically aggression among siblings.     

Childhood history of abuse and adult child abuse potential

The experience of aversive interactions within the family of origin is believed to increase the probability of parental physical child abuse. To test this hypothesis, 375 subjects were given a Childhood History Questionnaire (CHQ) and the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. The CHQ contained a series of questions about the presence and frequency of various abusive behaviors and associated sequelae that were received and/or observed before and/or after puberty. The CAP Inventory was used to measure adult physical child abuse potential. As expected, a childhood history of physical abuse was significantly related to adult physical child abuse potential; and, as chronicity increased, so did abuse potential. The experience of physical abuse prior to puberty produced higher abuse scores than the experience of physical abuse after puberty. The study provides preliminary data indicating the childhood experience of a caring adult and / or caring friend moderates adult child abuse potential.     

Multiple stressors,violence in the family of origin,and marital aggression: A longitudinal investigation

The negative perception of stress is significantly associated with marital aggression, as is violence in one's family of origin. However, most individuals experiencing stress do not engage in family violence. The present study tests an aspect of social learning theory, proposing that violence in one's family of origin predisposes one to react to stress by aggressing against one's spouse. Two hundred and seventy five couples completed questionnaires measuring multiple (work and life) stress, and marital aggression 6 and 18 months following their wedding. Information on violence in their family of origin was collected 1 month prior to their wedding. Moderated multiple regressions showed that for women, stress predicted marital aggression 1 year later after controlling for age, education, and initial marital aggression. No effects emerged for violence in the family of origin for either men or women. Conceptual implications for further studying the role of violence in the family of origin and the relationship between multiple Stressors and physical aggression are advanced.     

Scale of negative family interactions: a measure of parental and sibling aggression

This article examines a measure of received emotional, physical, and sexual aggression within the family: the Scale of Negative Family Interactions (SNFI). Unlike traditional familial violence scales that measure parental aggression alone, the SNFI simultaneously measures sibling violence for a more comprehensive examination of familial aggression. Although a variety of scales may be used in researching parental abuse, the SNFI is uniquely intended for (a) examining sibling violence while controlling for parental aggression, (b) examining parental abuse while controlling for sibling violence, and (c) comprehensively examining family violence to include aggression from both parents and siblings. Test-retest and internal consistency reliability were demonstrated, and evidence for validity is presented. In addition to offering a measure of sibling and parental aggression, the SNFI has the advantages of including everyone in the role of parent or sibling and of measuring a wide variety of emotional, physical, and sexual aggression within the family.     

Personal Experience and Perceived Acceptability of Sibling Aggression

The perceived acceptability of sibling aggression as a function of personal experience was investigated. Participants read a scenario depicting sibling aggression and rated the perceived acceptability of the hypothetical siblings’ behaviors. Following ratings, participants completed a measure to describe their childhood experience of sibling aggression and violence. Findings supported the hypotheses that men were more accepting of sibling aggression, and that being a perpetrator of sibling aggression was associated with increased perceived acceptability of such behavior, especially for women. For men, being the victim of sibling violence was also associated with higher rates of perceived acceptability.     

Single Types of Family Violence Victimization and Externalizing Behaviors Among Children and Adolescents

Prior research has provided substantial evidence that child maltreatment and exposure to physical intimate partner violence (IPV) are associated with increased externalizing behavior problems among children and adolescents. However, little is known about the effects of exposure to psychological IPV and exposure to the physical abuse of a sibling. Using a total sample (N = 2,572) and subsample (n = 441) of children ages 3–18 years old, the purpose of this study was to assess whether cumulative types of family violence lead to higher mean externalizing behavior scores and to examine the effects of single types of indirect and direct family violence on children’s mean externalizing behavior scores. Results confirmed that children who experienced any type of family violence victimization had higher mean externalizing behavior scores compared to children with no history of family violence; however, few differences in externalizing behavior scores were found as the number of family violence types increased. Children who experienced indirect types of family violence (e.g., exposure to the physical abuse of a sibling) had higher externalizing behavior scores than children who experienced direct maltreatment (e.g., child physical abuse). Findings from this study suggest that researchers and service providers should adopt a broader conceptualization of family violence victimization and increase the amount of services provided to children who are indirectly victimized.     

Parental Denigration: A Form of Conflict that Typically Backfires

Parental denigration is a phenomenon characterized by disparaging comments made by one parent about the other parent in front of their children. It is an emerging area of research with implications that could either follow a parental alienation perspective or a conflict perspective. In two prior studies of 648 and 994 young adults, denigration was found to be (1) measured reliably and perhaps validly; (2) reciprocally occurring; (3) related to children feeling more distant from both parents, particularly the more frequent denigrator; and (4) associated with various measures of maladjustment. These results held in married and divorced families, for mothers and fathers, in group and individual analyses, across own and sibling reports, and across studies. In a new study, parents also showed agreement in reported denigration, with divorced (particularly litigating) parents appearing motivated to underreport their own denigration behaviors and overreport their co‐parent's denigration behaviors. Across all three studies, results consistently aligned with a conflict perspective and indicated that denigrating one's co‐parent appears to boomerang and hurt the parent's own relationship with the children rather than distance children from the co‐parent.     

Family negativity and delinquent behavior in adolescence: a predictive multivariate latent growth analysis

ABSTRACT

The current study had three aims: (1) to explore whether there is over-time change in adolescent delinquency and negativity in the parent–adolescent, sibling and marital relationships during adolescence; (2) to examine the interactions of negativity across subsystems; and (3) to examine whether levels and changes in adolescent delinquency are predicted by levels and changes in negativity in all family subsystems. Data of 497 families participating in the RADAR-young study were used. Ratings of all family members were used to measure negativity in family relationships, and adolescent self-report was used for delinquency. Multivariate latent growth curve models showed over-time increases in mother-adolescent negativity and over-time decreases in sibling negativity, as well as significant individual differences in these changes. Second, evidence for both social contagion and compensatory processes in family negativity was found. Third, initial levels of parent–adolescent negativity were related to initial levels but not over-time changes of adolescent delinquency, whereas initial levels of sibling negativity were related to over-time changes but not initial levels of adolescent delinquency. Finally, increases in parent–adolescent negativity were related to faster increases in adolescent delinquency, and decreases in sibling negativity were related to slower increases in adolescent delinquency. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Sibling Proactive and Reactive Aggression in Adolescence

We describe sibling proactive and reactive aggression in middle and late adolescence. Participants were 8th (n?=?303, M _age?=?13.74 years, SD?=?.59) and 12th (n?=?300, M _age?=?17.73 years, SD?=?.56) grade adolescents who completed an in-school survey. Findings revealed that these adolescents were significantly more likely to engage in reactive than proactive aggression with their closest-aged sibling. However, 8th grade adolescents reported greater aggression toward their closest-aged sibling than did 12th grade adolescents. In addition, sex composition of the sibling dyad moderated the association between sibling relationship quality (i.e., warmth and rivalry) and both proactive and reactive aggression indicating unique links for brother-brother and older sister-younger brother pairs.     

The intergenerational transmission of family aggression

This paper analyzes the coexistence of aggressive relations reported by 888 intact child-rearing families using the National Survey of Physical Violence in American Families. The existence of spousal violence in the family of origin increased the likelihood that the respondent, whether husband or wife, was the target of aggression from his or her spouse. Aggression between parent and child in female respondents' families of origin increased the likelihood that females behaved aggressively toward their children. Among these families, no pervasive pattern of sex-specific learned perpetration was found. Instead, vulnerability to aggression was transmitted more than the learned role of perpetrator. The analysis differs from earlier studies in that all of the patterns of family aggression are analyzed simultaneously, thereby taking into account current family interactions as well as historical ones.     

Regional differences in spanking experiences and attitudes: A comparison of Northeastern and Southern college students

This study examined regional differences in college students experiences with corporal punishment. Students from two universities, one in the Northeast and one in the South, were surveyed about three aspects of spanking: their experiences receiving physical punishment, their assessments of their punishments, and their attitudes toward spanking. In general, Northeastern students were less likely than Southern students to have been hit and were hit less frequently. Further, Northeastern students were less likely than Southern students to feel that their spankings were justified, and less likely to favor spanking. Analyses of covariance for selected dependent variables controlling for religion, parents' education, and gender revealed that the effect of region was more important for attitudes than for behaviors. Implications of the findings for parents, children, and family professionals are discussed.     

Sibling incest: A literature review and a clinical study

Abstract

Few previous studies have explored the characteristics and dynamics of adolescent sibling incest. The objectives of this paper were twofold: first, to conduct a literature review that accounts for earlier research in the area, and secondly, to conduct a clinical study to explore differences regarding the characteristics of a group of adolescent sibling incest offenders (n=21) compared to a group of adolescent non-sibling offenders (n=24). Comparisons were made regarding variables such as family dysfunction, the offenders' prior victimization and offending behaviour. The data were derived from intake assessment files and semi-structured interviews with 45 adolescents who had sexually offended. The sibling incest offender group had grown up more often in dysfunctional families. Moreover, the results indicated that the offending behaviour in the sibling incest group was more severe. The study gives some empirical support for the possibility that sibling incest can be one sign, among others, of maltreatment during childhood.     

The Ubiquitous Family Environment: Examining Emotional Insecurity in the Family and Adjustment in School

The present study examines adolescents' emotional insecurity and problem behaviors at school. Adolescents (n = 280; 136 boys, 144 girls, Median age = 13) and their parents reported on adolescents' emotional security and adjustment problems. Adolescents' teachers (n = 240) also reported on adolescents' school adjustment. Results support that emotional insecurity is related to adjustment problems in the home and at school. Emotional insecurity in the family system was a better predictor of adolescents' adjustment problems than emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship. Findings have implications for teachers, parents, school administrators and policy‐makers, as adolescents' problem behaviors at school can be explained by their emotional insecurity.     

Exposure to Family Violence in Young At-Risk Children: A Longitudinal Look at the Effects of Victimization and Witnessed Physical and Psychological Aggression

This study examines the contribution of specific types of family violence exposure (e.g., victim vs. witness; physical vs. psychological) to aggressive and anxious/depressed problem behaviors in young (i.e., 6-year-old) at-risk children. This multisite prospective study of 682 children from four different regions of the country asked mothers and their 6-year-old children to report on violence exposure in their families. After controlling for mother reports of child problem behaviors on the Child Behavior Checklist at Age 4, it was found that subsequent exposure to family violence predicted reported problem behaviors at Age 6. Although mothers' report of child victimization predicted subsequent problem behaviors, witnessed violence was related to these problems only when both mothers and children reported its occurrence. The results of this study suggest that even though there was a relationship between witnessed and directly experienced family violence, both had independent, noninteractive effects on subsequent behavior problems.     

Leaving home in a stem family system: Departures of heirs and non-heirs in pre-industrial Japan

To clarify the rules in a stem family, this study investigates the patterns of childrens' departures from home, using the 1870 household register of South-Tama, Musashi Province (4,787 individuals). Sons and daughters followed a schedule for home departures in their life course related to their sex and to sibling composition. Life-table analysis revealed that the ‘stayers’ were children without siblings, eldest sons, and eldest daughters with only sister; while the ‘leavers’ were younger sons with elder brothers and younger daughters. This pattern was present regardless of economic status, with some variation in the speed of leaving home among sons. The leavers in general left for various destinations via marriage, adoption, service, and work migration. Larger proportions of sons than daughters remained in the home village. Examination of the exceptions to the rule showed that they tended to be incapable of following the main pattern. Analysis of the timing of a child's departure in relation to the heir's marriage or to the birth of the heir's first child revealed that within the standard schedule, sons and daughters were retained or released for the advantage of the family. Sisters were replaced by in-marrying brides. Brothers were kept in the home until the next generation was secured. The departure of children, or heirs and non-heirs, can be a good variable for comparing the rules of family systems.     

Dyadic Types of Sibling Sexual Coercion

Sibling sexual abuse seems to be the most prevalent form of sexual abuse in the family context. This study used the Sexual Coercion Scale of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales – Sibling Version (Straus et al. 1995) to measure the extent of sibling sexual coercion in a sample of 590 Portuguese university students. Prevalence: 11% of male students and 5% of female students had sexually coerced a sibling in the year when the participant was about 13 years old or in another year. Chronicity: When there was sexual coercion in a sibling relationship, it was perpetrated an average of 22.4 (mean) times by males and 9.1 times by females. Dyadic Concordance Types (DCT’s) revealed that in 26% there was only one perpetrator who was Male-Only, in 19% the perpetrator was Female-Only and more than half (55%) Both coerced. From the perspective of female respondents, in 50% of the cases the perpetrator was a Male-Only, in 31% Female-Only and in 19% Both coerced. Conclusions: Sexual coercion of siblings is probably more frequent than generally realized. Males had higher rates of perpetration, but the percentage of females was substantial. These results suggest a need to expand research to understand the etiology of sibling sexual coercion by females as well as males, understand causes, risk factors and to expand efforts to reduce sexual coercion in sibling relationships.