Facts About The Relationship Between Siblings

There is no doubt that siblings play an extremely important role in our lives and our development. Throughout history, there have been many legends, legends and stories about the relationship between siblings. As an example, we have the love between the gods Isis and Osiris from Egypt. And who can forget how Hod was tricked into killing his brother, Balder ? And how was their brother Hermod the only one who was willing to take him from the realm of the dead, from Norse mythology?

Regardless of whether it is through first-hand experience or by observing other families, we have all seen how important the relationship between siblings really is. If you have siblings , they will even have affected your cognitive development.

Parents usually place great emphasis on raising and educating their children. While this is good, many parents believe that it is the only way for a child to learn. What they often do not see, however, is how much siblings can learn from each other, as well as influence each other, in both positive and negative ways.

In this article we will talk about two specific hypotheses. The first is the hypothesis of sibling compensation, and the second is the hypothesis of hostility between siblings due to favoritism. Both hypotheses are related to how parents treat their children.

Hypotheses about the relationship between siblings

Sibling compensation

First and foremost, it is important to clarify that the relationship between siblings cannot be studied or examined alone. What we mean by this is that it is very important to take into account other variables that may affect the results. An example of such a variable is how parents treat their children. What happens if parents do not treat their children as they should? Can siblings compensate for this deficit of love through their relationship with each other?

This hypothesis states that siblings can develop close, warm relationships. As a consequence, they help each other in situations characterized by a lack of parental care. In other words, siblings compensate for their lack of parental love by caring for one another. In this way, they can develop normally despite the parents’ mistakes and shortcomings.

Studies that have examined this hypothesis have yielded good results. There may seem to be an inverse correlation between the quality of parent-child interactions and the quality of the relationship between siblings. Bryant and Crockenberg conducted a study in which they found that a mother’s indifference to her children had a correlation with a high incidence of prosocial behavior from the older sibling to the youngest.

These results lead us to believe that siblings who do not receive love and support from their parents, support and teach each other. However, it is important to be careful when interpreting this data, as other studies have yielded different results. As we mentioned above, it is not easy to study the relationship between siblings because no two cases are alike. Many different factors beyond the parents’ actions play an important role.

Hostility due to favoritism

Parental behavior can also lead to hostility between siblings. This is where this hypothesis comes into play. It refers to children’s perceptions of how their parents treat them.

The hypothesis of hostility between siblings due to favoritism argues that the relationship between siblings may become hostile if one of them perceives that their parents treat them differently than their other siblings. In other words, if a child perceives that parents are favoring another sibling, they will automatically feel jealousy and envy. As a result, the child will show hostile behavior towards the sibling.

Hetherington conducted an experiment that concluded that when parents are less loving towards one child, the likelihood of the relationship between siblings increases aggressively. The child begins a rebellion against his parents by seeking revenge on his siblings. However, there are many more factors that can also affect the relationship between siblings.

All studies related to this topic show just how important the relationship between siblings is for a person’s development. Ultimately, our siblings are the people we can always turn to for support.