Parental conflict and its association with sibling relationships

Abstract

The association between parental conflict and children’s adjustment has long been of interest of both developmental and clinical psychologists. From a family systems perspective, the parental subsystem is very important for family functioning. Conflict in the subsystem has a negative influence on the functioning of other family subsystems such as the sibling subsystem. The aims of the present study are: (1) to investigate the correlation between sibling relationships and interparental conflict. (2) to compare perception of parental conflict of only children and the ones who have only one older sibling (3) to examine the gender differences in parental conflict and sibling relationships. Participants were selected by considering three inclusion criteria: (a) being 10 years old (b) being only child or having one older sibling and (c) having an intake family. Sample consisted of 106 students, attending public and private schools who met the inclusion criteria. “Sibling Relationship Questionnaire” and “Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale” were administrated respectively. ANOVA and Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient Techniques were used to analyse the data. The results of the study indicated that, only children perceived more interparental conflict than children with an elder sibling.