Study On The Effect Of Sibling Relationship On Internalizing Problems Of Adolescents And Its Intervention

Since 2016,China’s central government fully implemented the one-child policy so that the proportion of two-child families and the number of children with siblings have increased rapidly.Sibling relationship which is the longest and “compulsory”relationships in people’s whole life had an important effect on adolescents’ development now and in the future,even on the future of the whole family.Adolescents is a special developing period in the process of individual growth.Due to the physical and psychological changes of teenagers,their interpersonal relationships(sibling relationship,parent-child relationship,etc.)are also changing.Therefore,the study of sibling relationship is particularly necessary and important.Most western researches showed that there are important interaction between sibling relationship and adolescents’ internalizing problems.But the Chinese studies on the relation between each other is limited,whereas they have found that the parent-child relationship directly affects the level of internalizing problems.Therefore,this study aims to examine the characteristics of Chinese sibling relationships,and explore the horizontal and vertical relationships between sibling relationships and adolescents’ internalizing problems,as well as the intervention program of siblings.Study 1 explored the horizontal relationship between the sibling relationships and the adolescents’ internalizing problems.Questionnaires were administered to 601first-year junior high school students using the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire,the Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire,and the Internalizing Issues Questionnaire.The results showed that the sibling conflict was significantly different in the age difference and family location,age difference had the most conflicts between siblings under 6years,and the sibling conflict score in urban areas was significantly higher than that in rural areas;internalizing problems differed significantly on gender and sibling combination,with girls scoring significantly higher on internalizing problems than boys and sister and sibling combinations scoring significantly higher on internalizing problems than brother and sibling combinations;after controlling for variables such as gender,sibling combination,and parent-child relationship,adolescents’ sibling conflict had a significant positive predictive effect on internalizing problems.Study 2 explored the longitudinal relationship between sibling relationships and adolescents’ internalizing problems.191 subjects in Study 1 were followed one year apart.The results showed that both sibling relationship and internalizing problems were unstable.Sibling warmth and sibling conflict were higher,whereas the internalizing problems was lower.The sibling conflict in the first year predicted the internalizing problems in the second year significantly.Study 3 explored an intervention program to affect the sibling relationship.A total of 24 participants was divided into experimental group and control group equally,in which 6 intervention programs were implemented in the experimental group and no programs were implemented to the control group.The aim of the intervention programs was to help participants find the advantages of siblings,learn the positive communication styles and establish reasonable cognitive when getting along with siblings,as well as increase the interaction and collaboration between siblings.The results showed that the intervention program of sibling relationship improved the sibling warmth immediately and reduce the level of internalizing problems.In conclusion,the sibling relationship has a significant impact on the internalizing problems in adolescents.The intervention programs can increase sibling warmth,reduce sibling conflict,and effectively reduce the level of internalizing problems.