Firstborn children's reaction to sibling birth assessed in 41 families via family interviews at 1 month prepartum and 1, 4, 8, and 12 months postpartum. Familial interaction patterns were observed in semistructured play sessions. Time since the birth of the sibling and sibling gender had significant effects on firstborn children's adjustment.…

The confluence model shows the influence of family on intellectual growth. The decline of SAT scores is related to changing family patterns. Intellectual growth is lower for children with many siblings. The increase in average family size for the cohorts taking SATs between 1963 and 1980 caused scores to decline. (Author/VM)

Urges greater attention of siblings as a critical subsystem in families of child welfare clients. Identifies gaps in knowledge about siblings. Points out social trends that call for increased responsiveness to siblings' needs. Examines both social work and legal opinions regarding sibling separation in foster care. Considers child welfare…

Used interview data from 96 eighth graders from intact families with at least two children to examine effects of family size, sibling spacing, and gender on young adolescents' relationships with their parents. Results revealed that mother-child relationships in early adolescence were influenced by child's gender, while adolescents' relationships…

When parents refuse to, or cannot, participate in family therapy, working with just the siblings (Sibling Therapy) offers one way to help troubled children. When parents offer inconsistent or inadequate nurturing, seeing the children together allows development or strengthening of bonds among them and teaches them how to be available to each…

Describes an international program CHILD-to-child, which is designed to teach and encourage older children of developing nations to take a role in caring for and improving the health and development of their younger brothers and sisters. (Author/BB)

In a second follow-up study of sibling interaction, 24 pairs of same-sex siblings and 24 pairs of mixed-sex siblings were observed in their homes 18 months after the first follow-up and 3 years after the initial observations. The patterning of interaction was similar to that observed earlier. (Author/DR)

A sibling training procedure consisting of direct prompting and modeling across three pairs of siblings revealed that direct prompting was effective for increasing reciprocal interactions between severely retarded and nonhandicapped siblings and increasing levels of initiations and responsiveness to initiations. (CL)

Uses the Network of Relationships Inventory to assess 10 qualities of children's relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, friends, and teachers. (NH)

Observed role relationships and behaviors that characterize interactions of preschool-aged sibling pairs and school-aged sibling pairs. Seven roles were operationalized and observed: teacher, learner, manager, managee, helper, helpee, and observer. Instances of prosocial and agonistic behavior were also observed in unstructured naturalistic…

Marked individual differences found among 2- to 3-year-olds in comments about their infant siblings were correlated with differences in comments 3 to 4 years later. Differences in behavior toward sibs at the earlier date were correlated with differences in mothers' accounts of sibling's relationships at 6 years of age. (Author/RH)

This doctoral research paper reviews the empirical literature examining intergenerational transmission of attachment styles. The relationship between adult caregivers' internal representations of attachment as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview and their infants' attachment status as measured by the Strange Situation procedure has been…