Science Of Siblings

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Pages: 4

“The New Science of Siblings” (2011) Article Questions.

1. Fighting among siblings provides conflict resolution skills that can be used in the future. This belief was derived from Daniel Shaw's study in which he put 5 year old children in a room with their siblings, presented three toys, and told them they could move from one toy to the next when both children are ready and willing. The results had a lot of fighting but when the researchers observed the children again, while the children were in a classroom setting, they found them to have the best conflict-resolution skills in their class.
2. Katherine Conger preformed a study on 384 adolescent sibling pairs and their parents three times over
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Sibling relationships are powerful for teaching social skills as siblings learn to do things off each other. According to a study done at Penn State University in 1996, siblings, by the age of 11, “devote about 33% of their free time to siblings”, more than any other group in a child's life. Because of this large amount of time spent with one another, there are many basic social skills that are passed from one to the other. Most times, the older child will teach the social skills either openly or in a subconscious manner. “Younger sibs mimic the skills and strengths of older ones.”
4. “Parents are programmed to notice the child who seems most worthy of the investment” is said in the article as it is a general fact. Although parents want to aid and assist those who are not the most capable, through instinct parents are more drawn to assist those who are more capable.
5. Sibling rivalries assist situations in the workplace as they establish social skills and conflict resolution skills when the siblings are young. In addition, the article displays an example of situations in the workplace. Workers recognize favoritism like children recognize it as well in the previous study that Katherine Conger led. With that information, workers can do the same as younger siblings and “strike a partnership with the favorite and spin the situation to benefit” the worker as
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“De-identification” is the process siblings go through to try and differentiate themselves from each other. Siblings are able to establish their own personalities and traits through the process of de-identification. De-identification also aids in siblings avoiding risky behaviour. Patricia East performed a five year study in which she found that girls that girls who do not follow older sisters into pregnancy simply do not so as to differentiate themselves from their sibling.
8. The majority of risky behaviour tends to derive from siblings. According to a paper published in the Journal of Drug Issues, “younger siblings whose older sibs drink are twice as likely to pick up the habit too. With smoking, the risk increases fourfold.” In the terms of pregnancy, Patricia East found that a girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is “four to six times as likely to become a teen mom too.”
9. Siblings who are of the opposite sex tend to fiercely de-identify themselves. According to a study on adolescents in central Pennsylvania, the gender-linked traits of the children with opposite siblings are accentuated and are closer linked to gender stereotypes. In turn, when siblings grow older they are more able to associate themselves with those of the