Sibling Relationships Reduce Depression, Double Moral Behaviour Compared to Parental Relationships
Offline ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — Something about having a sister -- even a little sister -- makes 10- to 14-year-olds a bit less likely to feel down in the dumps. Brothers mattered, too.
The BYU study found that having a loving sibling of either gender promoted good deeds, such as helping a neighbor or watching out for other kids at school. In fact, loving siblings fostered charitable attitudes more than loving parents did. The relationship between sibling affection and good deeds was twice as strong as that between parenting and good deeds.
That's one of several intriguing findings from a new study on the impact siblings have on one another. Brigham Young University professor Laura Padilla-Walker is the lead author on the research, which also sorts out the influence of siblings and the influence of parents within families.
"Even after you account for parents' influence, siblings do matter in unique ways," said Padilla-Walker, who teaches in BYU's School of Family Life. "They give kids something that parents don't."
Padilla-Walker's research stems from BYU's Flourishing Families Project and will appear in the August issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. The study included 395 families with more than one child, at least one of whom was an adolescent between 10 and 14 years old. The researchers gathered a wealth of information about each family's dynamic, then followed up one year later.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802125821.htm
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Yeah, siblings give you black eyes and scrapes and bruises and bloody noses and broken bones. And then mom came home and blamed oldest daughter - me - for the younger ones fighting. "You let them get blood on the new carpet!" At least in my house that was the case. I live about 1300 miles from one sibling and over 2400 miles from the other. Some days it doesn't feel far enough away.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
My family is so ugly we only keep the negatives in the photo album.
Someone has described heaven as a family reunion that never ends. What could hell be like? Home videos of the same reunion.
I asked my parents for a bath toy, they gave me a piranah.
I keep my 6 siblings in a different country, I live in Canada my 3 brothers and three sisters all live in the U.S. of A.; sorry Yanks but someone had to get stuck with them.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Well the study said loving siblings. My family is lots better than what you guys describe, but the study doesn't address moderately tolerant but mostly indifferent siblings either.
Yea, but you're pretty screwed up
I like my brother, but he has the moral compass of a drunken pirate...so I'm not sure that he had a positive influence on my morality. Or maybe he did specifically because of that. Hmm.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
As middle of five I am the most instinctively giving of my siblings - even tho the only atheist. The others preach universal morality but they never visibly attain it. Nevertheless we're all pretty close, the three younger ones the closest and most similar in nature. The older 2 are definitely more self focused.
I remember we had our rules and our allies in the sibling group growing up. Admittedly there were crashing failures and given the hysterical corporal punishment meted out for sins seen or unseen, these failures were a pretty major deal not forgotten to this day. Like others parents of kids in my generation, mine had a policy of liberally flogging all five of us if they couldn't get an admission from one and we all had our moments of high martyrdom.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
I wonder if there is any bias in this as 'it stems from BYU's Flourishing Families Project'.
I'm not saying there necessarily is, but it does make one wonder.
Personally, I suspect there is something in it, due to the benefits of socialising; but there are probably ill effects too that are not mentioned.
I get along with my siblings, but they all live a long way away.
Well then, but where do you get a loving sibling? That is something the study forgot to take into equation. Fortunately, I have my own rich experiences to make that up.
I think the only way how to ensure loving relationship between siblings is to provide each of them a separate lockable room with computer.
Computer is the Apple of discord (pun intended) between siblings, Bloody fights start because there is not enough computers for everyone. Lack of personal and private territory contributes to general tension and hate. You know, too many rats in too small space will start killing each other, while the same number of rats in larger space will get along fine.
As for deliquency, there is definitely something about it. When younger or older brothers occupied all available computers, I could only try something else. Like blowing shit up with home-made explosives, growing and smoking hemp, or searching the land for probably useless alluminium stuff that could be sold as scrapmetal. Whatever I did, I was never caught and I'm pretty sure that my older brother was more of a criminal mind and still is. I think he'd really prosper at prison or army.
Younger bro is probably the least mentally scarred for life, being basically good-hearted guy that I am I was probably the closest thing to loving sibling this family ever saw. So I don't remember hearing he'd ever smoke something, or had to overcome addiction on something (tobacco) like we less fortunate.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
Ae, interesting article. Thanks for sharing that. I'm an 'only', mold was broken after I came out, i.e. no brothers or sisters. My parents were involved in the military community and spent endless hours at the officers club. In my family, I have two kids a little over a year apart. They are the best of friends and the worst of friends. I firmly believe they do influence each other, that they are influenced also by their environment and peers, and that they are influenced either in a good or bad way by parents (I extend that beyond the scope of kin to parents of friends). The way kids act towards each other can be different than how they act towards parents. Most certainly, influences of teachers (middle to high school) also has an affect. I've seen my two tear down, and I've seen them build up. Right now they're cooperating with each other as their focus happens to be the same - music. So, they're encouraging each other and well as learning/teaching each other.
Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.