Siblings and Social Development - Essay Example

A majority of children around the whole have at least one sibling. The relationships among siblings is the most likely to last longer in an individual’s lifetime and therefore plays an integral part in the lives of families. This paper seeks to highlight the significance of siblings in social development of children into adults.

Discussion

Key aspects of sibling relations are prominent in early childhood. First, the interactions between siblings are emotionally charged relationships that are described by robust, uninhibited emotions of positive, negative and in some instances ambivalent quality. Second, the relations between siblings are defined by intimacy since they spend a lot of time playing together as youngsters; hence they tend to know each other very well. This long history and intimate knowledge manifests itself in the opportunities that for the provision of emotional and instrumental support to for each other in their engagement in pretend plays, in conflict and also in their understanding of the point of view of each other. Third, these relations feature huge individual differences in the quality of the relationship of the children with one another. Fourth, the differences in age between the siblings often become the premise of power and control, rivalry and jealousy that act as sources of contention for children. This also works to offer a context for more positive forms of complementary exchanges, for instance teaching, helping, and interactions that involve caregiving (Brody, 1998).

The characteristics of the relationships between siblings in broader perspectives on some occasions also makes pose as a challenge for parents owing to the potential nature of the relationships being emotional and also highly charged. Differences in parental treatment can also be seen as an attributive factor in the nature of differences that may arise out of age treatment (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010).

Various methodological issues plague the existing literature on the nature of the impact of sibling relationships on child development. Most of these have highlighted the order of birth and differences in age as the biggest influences, thereby making it challenging to differentiate between the role and developmental differences. Findings on recent research give a vital context for the development of children from a perspective an understanding of their social, emotional, moral as well as cognitive world. Particularly, an important role is played by siblings in children’s development of an understanding of their minds that is the understanding of their emotions, thoughts, beliefs and intentions.

An understanding of other people’s emotions and minds is demonstrated by siblings through their interactions in real life, way before they show the same level of understanding on assessments that can be deemed as more formal. This understanding is particularly demonstrate in episodes of teasing, pretend play, resolution of conflicts, teaching, and also through their application of emotional and mental language during conversations. The engagement of young siblings in frequent pretend play show a greater understanding of the emotions and thinking of others, as well as demonstrating creativity in the themes of their plays, hence an increased likelihood to develop shared meanings in play (Brody, 1998).

An important factor that needs further research is in relation to sibling conflict and the best ways through which disagreements between children can be settled by parents. Sibling disagreements are a frequent occurrence that are in sometimes poorly resolved, and in some instances could be very aggressive, abusive and/ or violent. Childhood sibling conflicts can be linked to poor adjustments that happens both concurrently and also in later life. For instance, extreme levels of sibling conflict in childhood can be associated with their later violent tendencies in adult life. Lack of sibling warmth may lead to particular problematic high levels of conflict. From these findings, it can be seen why sibling conflicts are a particular concern for parents, and keeps them at dilemmas regarding the best intervention methods. On the hand, constant intervention by the parents can be linked to the failure off children developing proper conflict resolution strategies that would have the potential effect of worsening future conflicts. This translates into adult life, with the children developing into chaotic and problematic individuals.

Different treatment of parents to their children through the direct variation of positive affect, responsiveness, control, discipline as well as intrusiveness between children could have various effects. One is that the children might end up being prone to conflicts and also less friendly given that they the children regard the different treatment as a premise of unfairness. This can be seen to manifest in subsequent years, and acting as a source of over-competitiveness especially on the siblings who felt like they have had to prove a point all their life in order to gain the favor of their parents. This is an aspect that most of the theory seems to be weak in the coverage of the impact of such sibling relations of social development.

First born siblings are seen to engage more in leadership, teaching, caregiving and roles of helping. On the other hand second-born sibling will probably imitate, be great learners and tend to elicit care and help. Younger siblings are often seen to imitate the actions and language of the older sibling during play, which in part establishes shared meanings about the course of their interaction in play (Azmitia & Hesser, 1993). This can be the premise of linking the precocious development of second born children in some cases.

There is a higher likelihood of older sisters to engage in caregiving and assistive roles more than older brothers. However, this is also consistent with the differences in gender gaps that define sibling relationships in early childhood. This is because second-born children gradually become more cognitively, linguistically as well as socially competent and also begin assuming more active roles in their interaction with siblings, for instance through the initiation of more games. The power imbalances level out over time as the siblings’ progress in age.

Positive sibling relationships are therefore seen to have a link to better outcomes for teenagers and adults alike. This can be attributed to research that shows how children could learn undesirable behaviors such as smoking and drinking among other delinquent acts as a result of exposure to the behavior of an older sibling and/ or his or her friends. For instance, it was seen that female teens were more likely to get pregnant if their older sister was a teenage mother.

Children who grow up as only children should not be necessarily socially incompetent than those who grew up with siblings. This can be attributed to the fact that they could develop social skills from friends rather than siblings (Azmitia & Hesser, 1993).

Sibling relationships can be considered as a natural laboratory where young children discover the world. They offer a safe place for children to learn how to interact with others by way of having playmates who are both interesting and engaging. There are able to acquire skills in conflict resolution and management, as well as learning how to regulate emotions both positive and negative in ways that are socially acceptable (Conger, Lorenz & Wickrama, 2004). Many opportunities present themselves for young children to development of an understanding of the social relations with family members who may be at times may be aggressive but are close and loving. Many opportunities also present themselves for children to apply their acquired cognitive skills for convincing others on their point of view, teach, as well as imitate their siblings. This makes warm and positive relationships endure perpetually, whilst the more strained ones during their childhood may also be associated with poor developmental outcomes (Brody, 1998). These not only compromise their sibling relationship but also may extend to other aspects of social development that may result in the said siblings developing undesirable personalities. There is need for more literature to be provided to give an insight to the impact of such relationships from a broader societal perspective.

Sensitive parenting requires adults to use strategically appropriate method to develop children of different ages. Strategies used by parents, particularly the encouragement of constructive such as negotiated and fair resolutions versus destructive such as the use of power and aggression, are fundamentally important strategies that teach and determine how well children get along with other people. Service and policy implications demonstrate that some parents may require some help with such issues hence the need for the development of parent education as well as programs aimed at sibling intervention. Research implies that interventions through the training of parents for the mediation of siblings can be successful. However, the reduction of conflict has not in general been linked to an increase in prosocial interaction of siblings (Conger, Lorenz & Wickrama, 2004). Most programs have focused on assisting parents in the development of better strategies on guidance, but have failed to target the siblings who play an essential role on the development of one another. On the brighter side, a promising intervention program for social skills that is aimed at facilitating increased prosocial interactions between young siblings has been successful in improving the quality of sibling relationships as well as the skills for emotional regulation. From this, therefore, the development of intervention programs with the objective of improving the relation of siblings is an area that needs further work in the future from the perspective of both services and policy.