Examined relations between sibling jealousy and child and family characteristics in families with toddler and preschool-age siblings. Found that positive marital relationship was particularly strong predictor of older siblings' abilities to regulate jealousy in sessions with mothers. Younger siblings' jealous affect with mothers related to child's…

Investigates developmental changes in moral reasoning about sibling and parental relationships in Mainland Chinese children. Results suggested universal stage-like progression in moral judgment from superficial to profound. However, culture-specific moral reasoning also existed. Argues that Chinese children's moral characteristics are influenced…

Examined impact of various social relationships on level of loneliness reported by 208 elderly residents of 10 senior housing apartments, controlling for depression. Subjects who were less satisfied with quality of their relationships and had less contact with close friends were more lonely. Whether one had children, grandchildren, siblings, or…

This study of 16 pairs of older nonhandicapped siblings and same-sex younger mentally retarded siblings found that the amount of sibling interaction was related to the contexts of toy play, snacking, or television-viewing. Compared to nonhandicapped sibling pairs, older siblings of mentally retarded children more frequently assumed teacher,…

Tested relationships between negative and positive sibling interactions and relationship quality and family form. When husband-wife, mother-child, and father-child relationship quality were controlled, marital status was not significantly related to sibling interactions. When parental marital status was controlled, quality of spousal relationship…

Discusses how Dave Etter's poem "Brother" involves students by focusing on the themes of guilt and the love/hate complexity of a sibling relationship. Notes that Gina Berriault's story "The Stone Boy" and Harley Elliot's poem "Brothers Together in Winter" work well in conjunction with "Brother" as a thematic…

Examined the relationships between parental behaviors and sibling relationships. Only one difference emerged between rates of maternal and paternal behavior toward children. Paternal behavior accounted for unique variance in sibling relationship quality more often than maternal behavior did. (Author/GLR)

This interview conducted with adult twin sisters legally blind since birth focuses primarily on their experiences with residential education--their relationship with their family, positive and negative aspects of residential education, how the experiences shaped their adult life, and changes needed in residential schools. (JDD)

Examines the effect of birth order on child development, noting that spacing of children, gender, family size, and family configuration all play a role in determining what effect birth order will have. The article looks at various traits of firstborn, middle, lastborn, and only children. (SM)

When choosing permanent homes for foster children, attachment, permanence, and kinship can be used as criteria for selection. Each of these criteria represents an established value in child welfare theory. Reports a case study of three siblings entering adoption in which the three criteria formed the basis for a placement recommendation that…

Reviews developmental changes in children's acquisition of death concepts and in their emotional reactions. Discusses moderating variables that may affect nature of grieving processes after parental or sibling death. Reviews pragmatic issues regarding bereavement and mourning in children with acquired brain injuries and illustrates issues by means…

Explores common reactions that family members experience from living with a depressed child, reviews the family assessment of a depressed child or adolescent, and highlights specific therapeutic issues that typically arise in working with families of depressed children and adolescents. (NB)

Examined effects of sisters' and girlfriends' sexual and childbearing behavior on early adolescent girls' sexual outcomes. Findings from 455 girls indicated that number of sexually active girlfriends, number of sexually active sisters, and presence of adolescent childbearing sister were positively associated with permissive sexual attitudes,…

This report describes the development of the Family Background Questionnaire, a 179-item instrument with 22 subscales designed to assess memories of family characteristics. Results with 1,020 college students in three separate studies for initial reliability and validity, factor analysis, and test-retest reliability support the reliability and…

Whether genetic and environmental effects on academic achievement changed as a function of the quality of children's environment was studied with 1664 pairs of full siblings, 366 pairs of half siblings, and 752 pairs of cousins. Little evidence was found of genotype-environment interactions. (SLD)