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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Peering into the Dynamics of Social Interactions: Measuring Play Fighting in Rats
Published on: January 18, 2013
Sibling violence silenced: rivalry, competition, wrestling, playing, roughhousing, benign
Debby A Phillips1, Kate H Phillips, Kitty Grupp
1College of Nursing, Seattle University, 901 12th Ave, Box 22200, Seattle, WA 98122, USA. daphillip@seattleu.edu
Abstract:
In this article, sibling violence and the silence surrounding it is explicated through professional literature and research findings, exemplars from clinical practice, and statistics. Theoretical positions and discourse analysis have been used to help explain how regular broken bones, bruises, lacerations, and verbal humiliation can be minimized as normal sibling rivalry or roughhousing, which does not cause serious consequences. Nursing should be on the front lines of ending practices of violence. Recognizing sibling violence as such is part of this work and is a social justice issue.
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