Perceived Changes in Siblings of Hospitalized Children: A Comparison of Sibling and Parent Reports

This study compared sibling perception of changes in feehngs and behaviors to parental perception of sibling changes during a pediatric hospitalization The data showed a low level of agreement on a Perceived Change Scale, with siblings reporting a significantly higher number of changes than did their parents Further, the only significant main effect found on seven-way analysis of variance was sibling age, with a lower percentage of agreement for young siblings and their parents than for older siblings Similarly, one significant two-way interaction revealed that the percentage of agreement increased for older siblings when they saw their parents more frequently, but it did not increase for younger siblings In addition, siblings reported the worst parts of the experience and what could be done to help them Implications of these findings for clinicians and researchers are presented.     

Perceived Changes in Siblings of Hospitalized Children: A Comparison of Sibling and Parents Reports

This study compared sibling perception of changes in feehngs and behaviors to parental perception of sibling changes during a pediatric hospitalization The data showed a low level of agreement on a Perceived Change Scale, with siblings reporting a significantly higher number of changes than did their parents Further, the only significant main effect found on seven-way analysis of variance was sibling age, with a lower percentage of agreement for young siblings and their parents than for older siblings Similarly, one significant two-way interaction revealed that the percentage of agreement increased for older siblings when they saw their parents more frequently, but it did not increase for younger siblings In addition, siblings reported the worst parts of the experience and what could be done to help them Implications of these findings for clinicians and researchers are presented.     

Temperament and the Quality of Best Friendships: Effect of Same‐Sex Sibling Relationships*

The authors examined whether early adolescents' sibling relationships ameliorate the effects of a difficult temperament on best friendships, exploring whether qualities of early adolescents' sibling relationships would moderate the link between temperamental difficulties and best friendship quality. Data were collected at two points. At first collection, parents provided temperament ratings for 73 later‐born siblings (M= 7 years ). Five years later, adolescents provided information about support and discord present in their best friendships and older siblings provided information about the warmth and conflict in their same‐sex sibling dyads. The hypothesized moderating effect of the sibling relationship was found only for early adolescent girls. Support and discord in girls' best friendships was negatively and positively predicted, respectively, by level of temperamental difficulty only when relationships with their older sisters were lower in warmth or higher in conflict. Implications for understanding and improving early adolescents' closest friendships are discussed.     

Sibling Influences on Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Safe Sex Practices*

We examined the role of older siblings in protecting adolescents from engaging in unsafe sexual practices. Participants included 297 midwestern high school students who were approximately 17 years old and who responded to questionnaires assessing their attitudes toward sexual intercourse, self‐efficacy for engaging in safe sex, and discussions with their older siblings and parents about sex. Results suggested that sibling discussions about safe sex, in conjunction with parental discussions, predicted better attitudes toward safe sexual practices for adolescents. Perceptions of sibling relationship quality were more closely associated with sibling discussions about safe sex than were older siblings’ general attitudes toward safer sexual intercourse. Thus, sibling relationship quality may serve a protective function by facilitating more frequent sibling discussions about safe sex.     

Sibling Influence on Mexican-Origin Adolescents' Deviant and Sexual Risk Behaviors: The Role of Sibling Modeling

PurposeA growing body of research indicates that siblings uniquely influence each other's health risk behaviors during adolescence and young adulthood. Mechanisms underlying these associations, however, are largely unknown because they are rarely tested directly. The present study addressed this gap by examining the role of sibling modeling in explaining changes in Mexican-origin youths' deviant and sexual risk behaviors over time.MethodsThe sample included 380 Mexican-origin siblings (older sibling age: M = 21.18, SD = 1.59; younger sibling age: M = 18.19, SD = .46) from (N = 190) families. Participants provided self-reports of their sibling relationship qualities, including modeling, as well as their engagement in deviant and sexual risk-taking behaviors in two home interviews across a 2-year span.ResultsA series of residualized regression models revealed that younger siblings' perceptions of modeling moderated the links between older siblings' deviant and sexual risk behaviors and younger siblings' subsequent behaviors in those same domains. Specifically, high levels of modeling predicted stronger associations between older siblings' earlier and younger siblings' later risk behaviors controlling for younger siblings' earlier behaviors as well as variables that have been used as proxies for social learning in previous research.ConclusionsSocial learning mechanisms, especially modeling, are salient processes through which older siblings transmit norms and expectations regarding participation in health risk behaviors. Future research should continue to explore the ways in which siblings influence each other because such processes are emerging targets for intervention and prevention.     

Mexican American College Students' Communication with Their Siblings

This study examined method and frequency of sibling communication among Mexican American college students (N = 186) and associations between relationship quality and sibling communication. Findings revealed that siblings were most likely to communicate face‐to‐face and by text and least likely to communicate using video chat and e‐mail. Further, sisters were more likely than brothers to call and text one another, and sisters communicated more frequently than older brother–younger sister dyads. Familism moderated the relation between sibling intimacy and frequency of communication, showing a stronger positive association for those with low (compared to high) familism values. Our findings reveal that values central to the importance of family and orientations to Mexican culture are protective for maintaining sibling communication when siblings report negativity in their relationships. Results highlight the need to consider sibling structural characteristics and the cultural context when studying relationship dynamics among Mexican American college students and their siblings.     

Advancing our understanding of sibling supervision and injury risk for young children

Sibling supervision has been shown to increase the risk of supervisee's unintentional injury in the home. Both poorer supervision by the older sibling and noncompliance by the younger sibling have been shown to contribute to this risk. Previous studies have shown that informing older siblings that they are responsible for the behavior of their younger sibling improves their supervision. The present study, conducted in Canada, examined whether informing both children the older child is in charge would improve both older sibling supervisory practices and compliance by the younger child. Younger and older siblings were initially placed in a room containing contrived hazards, and their interactions were unobtrusively recorded. In a second contrived hazards room, both children were then informed that the older sibling was in charge, and the supervisor was privately told not to let the supervisee touch hazardous objects. Results revealed that sibling supervisors showed improved supervision but supervisee behavior did not vary across conditions. Implications for injury prevention and future research directions are discussed.     

Risk and Protective Effects of Sibling Relationships among African American Adolescents

This study investigated associations between sibling relationships and adjustment among 179 African American adolescent siblings (controlling for family factors), and tested moderating effects of familism values and birth order. Two-level random intercept models revealed that familism values moderated sibling relationship-adjustment linkages, suggesting that youth who reported both strong familism values and harmonious sibling relationships showed the most positive outcomes. These effects were more consistent for older than for younger siblings. Findings highlight the role of cultural values and birth order in shaping sibling influence processes.     

Parental behaviour and adolescents' emotional eating

Parents can influence their children's emotional eating behaviour through modelling processes and parenting. In this study, data on parenting (support, behavioural control and psychological control), emotional eating, and demographic variables were gathered among both parents and two adolescent children of 428 Dutch families. Structural equation modelling showed positive associations between parents' emotional eating and adolescents' emotional eating. Adolescent's reports of low maternal support and of high psychological control for younger adolescents and low behavioural control for older adolescents were associated with higher emotional eating. Parents' reports of parenting were not significantly associated with adolescent's emotional eating. Multi-group analyses revealed no significant differences in associations between modelling and parenting factors on the one hand, and adolescent emotional eating on the other, by sex of the older or younger adolescent.     

Sibling Sex Ratio and Birth Order in Early-Onset Gender Dysphoric Adolescents

Several sibship-related variables have been studied extensively in sexual orientation research, especially in men. Sibling sex ratio refers to the ratio of brothers to sisters in the aggregate sibships of a group of probands. Birth order refers to the probands’ position (e.g., first-born, middle-born, last-born) within their sibships. Fraternal birth order refers to their position among male siblings only. Such research was extended in this study to a large group of early-onset gender dysphoric adolescents. The probands comprised 94 male-to-female and 95 female-to-male gender dysphoric adolescents. The overwhelming majority of these were homosexual or probably prehomosexual. The control group consisted of 875 boys and 914 girls from the TRAILS study. The sibling sex ratio of the gender dysphoric boys was very high (241 brothers per 100 sisters) compared with the expected ratio (106:100). The excess of brothers was more extreme among the probands’ older siblings (300:100) than among their younger siblings (195:100). Between-groups comparisons showed that the gender dysphoric boys had significantly more older brothers, and significantly fewer older sisters and younger sisters, than did the control boys. In contrast, the only notable finding for the female groups was that the gender dysphoric girls had significantly fewer total siblings than did the control girls. The results for the male probands were consistent with prior speculations that a high fraternal birth order (i.e., an excess of older brothers) is found in all homosexual male groups, but an elevated sibling sex ratio (usually caused by an additional, smaller excess of younger brothers) is characteristic of gender dysphoric homosexual males. The mechanisms underlying these phenomena remain unknown.     

Gender differences in associations of eating pathology between mothers and their adolescent offspring

OBJECTIVE: To study the association of eating pathology between mothers and their adolescent offspring in a population sample. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The participants were 481 women (mean age, 47+/-SD 5 years; BMI, 25+/-4 kg/m2) and their 481 adolescent children 16 to 17 years old (BMI, 21+/-3 kg/m2) of the Stockholm Weight Development Study. Assessment methods were the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised 18 and the Eating Disorder Inventory 2. RESULTS: A higher body weight was most related to cognitive restraint for adolescents and to emotional eating for adult women. A mother-daughter link could be identified for eating pathology, with the strongest link found for emotional eating. No mother-son link could be identified. Age subgroup analyses revealed a stronger mother-daughter link for body attitudes in younger mothers and for cognitive restraint in older mothers. DISCUSSION: Gender differences revealed that eating pathology was shared by mothers and daughters but not by mothers and sons. A psychological strategy such as eating as a response to negative emotions was most interrelated between mothers and daughters. Younger mothers shared more attitudes toward the body with their daughters, whereas older mothers shared more restrictive eating behaviors with their daughters. The mother-daughter links found may be due to gender-specific genetic and psychological family transmission and gender-specific environmental influences. The sons' eating behaviors seem to be more independent and would be formed by other factors than for the girls.     

Maternal child feeding practices and obesity: a discordant sibling analysis

BACKGROUND: The relationship between maternal feeding practices and weight status of 7-12 year-old obese and nonobese siblings was evaluated in 18 families using a discordant sibling design. METHOD: Mothers completed measures of concern and perception of children's weight and eating behavior, their control over child feeding, and maternal eating behavior. RESULTS: Intraclass correlations suggested similarity between obese and nonobese siblings in maternal control over feeding. Mothers perceived differences between their obese and nonobese children's eating regulation. Mothers' weight status was positively associated with disinhibition of their own eating as well as concern about both their obese and nonobese children's weight and health. DISCUSSION: These findings fail to support the hypothesis that maternal control over child feeding is related to childhood obesity, but highlight the impact of maternal weight history and eating habits on her impression of children's future weight and health independent of the child's weight status.     

Older siblings as supervisors: Does this influence young children's risk of unintentional injury?

Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and hospitalization of young children. Many of these injuries occur in the home when children presumably are being supervised. This study focused on the under-explored issue of sibling supervision in the home, drawing on data collected from a sample of Canadian mothers. Mothers in this sample completed a structured telephone interview and mailed back questionnaires to provide information about the nature and extent of sibling supervision that occurs in the home, as well as the younger child's injury history. Results indicated that older siblings supervise younger ones about 11% of their mutual wake time, with children typically playing and parents usually doing other chores during this time. Time spent with siblings as supervisors was positively related to the supervisee's history of injuries suggesting that sibling supervision may elevate younger children's risk of injury. However, the behavior of the supervisee contributed to risk more so than that of the supervisor. Specifically, sibling supervisors were reported to utilize the same types of strategies as their mother and father in their efforts to supervise and persuade younger children to stop things that could lead to injury. However, poor compliance by the younger child when the older sibling was supervising predicted injury. Implications for childhood injury and directions for future research are discussed.     

Sibship characteristics and risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma

Studying associations between sibship characteristics and allergic diseases in detail may contribute clues to their etiology. The authors studied associations between sibship characteristics and risk of self-reported allergic rhinitis and asthma among 31,145 pregnant women participating in a nationwide study in Denmark during 1997-2000. Increasing sibship size was associated with a decreased risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma with allergic rhinitis but not with asthma without allergic rhinitis. The protective effect of having older siblings was stronger than the protective effect of having younger siblings for both allergic rhinitis and asthma with allergic rhinitis. There was no association between interval to closest older or younger sibling and risk of allergic rhinitis or asthma with allergic rhinitis, while the risk of asthma without allergic rhinitis increased with intervals of 2 or more years compared with less than 2 years to the nearest older sibling. The protective effect of having siblings on the risk of asthma with allergic rhinitis could be explained by a protective effect of siblings on the risk of allergic rhinitis alone. In conclusion, our findings suggest that different etiologic mechanisms are involved for allergic rhinitis and asthma with respect to the effect of sibship characteristics. Furthermore, the findings that allergic rhinitis was associated with the number of younger siblings but not with the age interval to younger siblings support the hypothesis of an influence of postnatal mechanisms and suggest that these mechanisms may not necessarily be operating only in early life.     

Counterregulation in female obese emotional eaters: Schachter, Goldman, and Gordon's (1968) test of psychosomatic theory revisited

In a sample of 31 obese women, the moderating role of restrained, emotional, and external eating (as was measured by the DEBQ) on the relationship between food deprivation and food intake was studied by examining the prediction of grams of cookies eaten by the preload and degree of restrained, external, and emotional eating interactions. In addition, the main effects of each type of eating behaviour on food intake was studied, and also whether any of the effects were attenuated when variance associated with the other types of eating behaviour was partialled out. Emotional eating was found to moderate the relationship between food intake and food deprivation, and this effect became even more pronounced when the variance associated with external eating was removed. Instead of eating less after a preload, emotional eaters ate more, suggesting a counter regulatory eating pattern of female obese emotional eaters. Further, also the main effect of emotional eating on food intake was significant. Both results suggest support for psychosomatic theory.     

The associations of sociocultural attitudes towards appearance with body dissatisfaction and eating behaviors in Hong Kong adolescents

ObjectivesWestern culture has great influences on body dissatisfaction and related eating behaviors in adolescents. This study aimed to assess the sociocultural influences on eating attitudes and motivations among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.MethodsIn 2007, 909 adolescents (mean age = 14.7 years, 55.3% boys) completed a survey with Stunkard's Figure Rating Scale (FRS), Motivation for Eating Scale (MFES), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), Revised Restraint Scale (RRS), and Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale (SATAQ). In addition, their body mass index (BMI) was objectively measured.ResultsOur results indicated that Hong Kong adolescents, particularly girls exhibited a remarked level of body dissatisfaction, external, emotional, restrained and disordered eating behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that age, sex and BMI were the most common contributing factors to individual eating styles. SATAQ significantly accounted for an additional variance of body dissatisfaction (2%), physical eating (2%), external eating (1%), emotional eating (3%), restrained eating (5%), and disordered eating (5%).ConclusionsIn Hong Kong, the sociocultural influences on body image and eating disturbance were supported.     

Familial aggregation of energy intake in children

BACKGROUND: Uncompensated overnutrition promotes obesity, but the controls of children's eating behavior are poorly understood. Insights may be achieved by testing whether the eating patterns of children are associated with demographic variables or whether they aggregate among family members. OBJECTIVE: We tested whether children's total energy intake and macronutrient intake and their ability to compensate for earlier energy intake were associated with sociodemographic variables and anthropometric indexes. We also tested whether these behavioral traits aggregate among siblings. DESIGN: Thirty-two sibling pairs aged 3-7 y consumed a multi-item lunch preceded by a low-energy (12.55 kJ) or high-energy (627.60 kJ) preload drink. Mixed-models regression tested the associations between children's energy intake, demographic variables, and anthropometric measures. An intraclass correlation coefficient quantified the family correlation of the measures of children's eating. RESULTS: Children consumed significantly more total energy after consuming the low-energy preload ( +/- SD: 2237.39 +/- 1176.45 kJ) than after consuming the high-energy preload (1601.18 +/- 930.65 kJ). Compensation ability was unrelated to the children's age, sex, or ethnicity. Total energy and macronutrient intake, but not compensation propensity, were associated among siblings. CONCLUSIONS: The familial association of total energy and macronutrient intakes, independent of anthropometric measures, suggests genetic or home environmental influences specific to these behaviors. Short-term energy compensation, although very accurate within this sample, showed no significant familial correlation.     

Predictors of Sibling Relationship Characteristics in Youth With Juvenile Chronic Arthritis

Relationships between 20 children with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) and their siblings were compared with relationships among 20 comparison sibling pairs. Participants ranging in age from 7 to 21 years were interviewed using the Sibling Relationships Questionnaire-Revised. Parents completed ratings of their families' and children's behavior and an illness activity rating scale. Siblings in the JCA and comparison groups did not differ in perceptions of their relationships or in their family structure. Age, sex, birth order, and age difference between siblings were associated with sibling relationship variables, whereas adaptive behavior was not a significant factor. Among JCA patients, severity of illness was positively associated with perceived conflict with siblings.     

A greater role of emotional than physical or sexual abuse in predicting disordered eating attitudes: the role of mediating variables

OBJECTIVE: Previous research on the role of trauma in eating psychopathology has generally focused on reported childhood sexual abuse. There has been relatively little research addressing the full range of abusive experiences, and none considering their long-term impact on eating. This study investigated the relationships between four forms of reported childhood abuse (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect) and unhealthy eating attitudes in adult life. Within this relationship, depression, anxiety, and dissociation were considered potential mediators, and age of onset of abuse was considered a potential moderator. METHOD: A nonclinical sample of 236 women completed self-report measures of abuse, eating psychopathology, and psychological function. Multiple regression analyses were used to test for associations as well as for mediating and moderating influences. RESULTS: When the intercorrelations of the different forms of reported abuse were controlled for, emotional abuse was the only form of childhood trauma that predicted unhealthy adult eating attitudes. That relationship was perfectly mediated by the women's levels of anxiety and dissociation. Age at onset of emotional abuse did not moderate these relationships. DISCUSSION: Although these results require extension to a clinical sample, the findings underscore the need to consider a history of emotional trauma as a potentially central factor in any abusive history. Treatment may depend on addressing the psychological consequences of such trauma.     

Sibling Conversations About Dating and Sexuality: Sisters as Confidants,Sources of Support,and Mentors

Using an observational methodology to examine sibling communication, sisters (N = 28 dyads) were videotaped discussing their ideas about dating and sexuality. Social provision theory was used as a framework for the examination of roles enacted by sisters during these conversations. Inductive thematic analytic procedures were conducted, and three roles were identified: sisters as confidants, sources of support, and mentors. Older and younger sisters served as confidants and sources of support for one another, whereas older sisters were more likely to be mentors for their younger sisters than vice versa. Findings indicate the potential importance of sisters in the formation of adolescent girls' ideas about romantic relationships and sexuality, sibling communication as a socialization mechanism of sisters' similarities in romantic experiences and sexual behaviors/attitudes, and the inclusion of older sisters in prevention intervention programs focused on reducing adolescent sexual risk behaviors and promoting healthy romantic relationships and sexuality development.