Relationship quality of aggressive children and their siblings: A multiinformant, multimeasure investigation

Sibling influence on the learning and enactment of aggressive behavior has been consistently demonstrated in studies of sibling relationships. Available evidence suggests that, compared with nonaggressive children's sibling interactions, the sibling interactions of aggressive children are marked by more frequent, intense, and prolonged aggressive behaviors. Although research on normative and aggressive children's sibling interactions has increased recently, a number of limitations in this literature were addressed in this study by: (1) including both an aggressive and nonaggressive comparison group, (2) examining both positive and negative features of sibling relationships, (3) employing a multimethod/multiinformant approach to data collection, and (4) utilizing an improved self-report method. In support of our hypotheses and consistent with previous research, results showed that aggressive children's sibling relationships were marked by higher levels of observed conflict and lower levels of self-reported positive features. When gender was examined, results showed that older brother/younger sister dyads were characterized by higher levels of negative features and lower levels of positive features.