The impact of sibling conflict in middle childhood : a retrospective study

Abstract

The sibling relationship is considered to be one of the longest relationships in a lifetime (Lohmann, 2014). However, sibling conflict can have long-term effects on the sibling relationship and the rest of the family (McCarthy, 2022). Sibling conflict in middle childhood is complex, the goal of their conflicts ranges from arguments over objects to social comparison and differential parental treatment (Brennan, 2021; Recchia & Witwit, 2017). The study aimed to explore the impact and experience of sibling conflict in middle childhood. The objectives were to explore the nature of sibling conflict during middle childhood and its impact, if any, it had on young adults. Five siblings took part in this study, their interviews were semi-structured and audio recorded. Transcripts were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes were created, and each of these themes had several subthemes. Findings suggests, that sibling conflict can be both beneficial and detrimental to the sibling relationship especially during young adulthood when it becomes the person’s choice to communicate to their sibling as they spend less time together. Power dynamics between siblings had an immense impact on the severity of the conflicts and therefore, if there was a high power imbalance in middle childhood this resulted in a weak sibling bond. No impact was reported with regards to social development or other well-being difficulties. A recommendation would be in relation to parenting and to avoid differential parental treatment since this was a common experiences among the participants. A suggestion for future research could be to research about sibling conflict in non-traditional familie