Background: Although many children grow up with more than one sibling, we do not yet know if sibling dyads within families show similarities to one another on sibling affection and hostility. In the present study the hypotheses were tested that (a) there will be significant between family variation in change in sibling affection and hostility and…

J. E. Grusec and M. Davidov's article (this issue) about domains of parenting and their links with different aspects of childhood outcome raises both interesting questions and challenges. Four of these concerns are discussed in relation to early childhood. First is the issue of bidirectionality. Recent studies highlight the contribution of…

Fifty second-born preschoolers and their families were observed at 3 intervals over a 14-month period to examine the relations between emotional expression in the family, children's understanding of emotions, and children's social understanding. Frequent expressions of anger or distress within the family when children were 33-months-old was…

Increasing numbers of children experience parental separation and formation of stepfamilies. Research into the impact of these family transitions on children's adjustment by family sociologists and psychologists has greatly increased; changes in research perspectives over the last two decades are discussed, including a focus on individual…

A total of 50 children were observed at home at 33 months of age and then tested at 40 months on affective labeling, perspective taking, and false belief tasks. Individual differences at 40 months were associated with family discourse about feelings and causality at 33 months, verbal fluency of mother and child, and sibling cooperation. (BC)

The Cambridge Sibling Study sought to investigate the structure of sibling relationship changes as children grow up, and the patterns of individual differences in these relationships in middle childhood and adolescence. It followed a group of siblings from 43 families from the preschool period through middle childhood and early adolescence. Four…

Examined associations between children's early experiences in family disputes and later conflict management with close friends. Found that argument used by mothers and siblings that considered children's needs was positively associated with children's later constructive argument and resolution techniques. Mothers' use of argument predicted…

Developmental changes and individual differences in children's conceptions of transgression were studied in 46 children from preschool through 1st grade. Differences in response to moral transgressions in kindergarten were related to mothers' control management and to siblings' friendly behavior in the preschool period, early understanding of…

Reviews and considers the developmental implications of recent evidence on the nature of sibling interaction from observational studies of preschool children. Argues that, in contrast to complementary interaction, sibling influence is most plausibly associated with reciprocal interaction and with sociocognitive development. (Author/RH)