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Sibling relationships and school entry psychosocial functioning: Dual risk or differential susceptibility?
Kirsten L Buist1, Meike Slagt, Amaranta D de Haan2
1Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies.
Summary
Children with low effortful control (EC) show greater effects from sibling relationships on their behavior and social skills. This suggests EC is a key factor in how sibling quality impacts child development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Family Studies
Background:
- Understanding how temperament and sibling relationships influence child psychosocial functioning is crucial for early intervention.
- Competing models, dual risk and differential susceptibility, offer different frameworks for these influences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether temperament moderates the relationship between sibling relationship quality and child psychosocial functioning at school entry.
- To test the applicability of dual risk and differential susceptibility models in this context.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study with 977 Dutch mothers reporting on their children.
- Utilized online questionnaires assessing temperament, sibling relationship quality, problem behavior, and social competence.
- Employed path analysis and Region of Significance analyses to examine moderation effects.
Main Results:
- Children low in effortful control (EC) showed stronger associations between sibling conflict and internalizing/externalizing problems.
- Children low in EC also exhibited a stronger positive relationship between sibling warmth and social competence.
- Findings support a weak form of differential susceptibility, with low EC acting as a susceptibility marker.
Conclusions:
- Low effortful control appears to be a significant susceptibility factor in how sibling relationship quality affects child psychosocial functioning.
- The study provides nuanced support for the differential susceptibility model regarding early childhood development.
- Highlights the importance of considering individual temperament traits in understanding child outcomes related to family dynamics.
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