The association of sibling relationship and abuse with later psychological adjustment

This study of 59 undergraduate men and 85 undergraduate women explored how defining emotional and physical sibling abuse affected the frequency of reported sibling abuse. In addition, the current study examined how the emotional context of the sibling relationship (i.e., rivalry and conflict) moderated the relationship between sibling abuse and later psychological adjustment (i.e., depression and anxiety). Respondents completed self-report questionnaires of sibling abuse (CTS2-SP), self-labeling of sibling abuse, quality of sibling relationships (SRQ), depression (CES-D), and anxiety (ZAS). Results indicated differences in frequency of reported abuse depending on how sibling abuse was defined. Also, there were no statistically significant correlations between the CTS2-SP and measures of psychological adjustment. Although self-labeling as emotionally abused correlated with later anxiety, the emotional context of the sibling relationship did not moderate this relationship.