Relaciones entre hermanos/as y desarrollo psicológico en escolares

Resumen

En este trabajo se estudia la influencia de las relaciones fraternas en el desarrollo psicológico de una muestra de escolares (N = 903). El enfoque de la teoría estructural, basada en los descriptors del grupo de hermanos/as (orden de nacimiento, diferencia de edad, tamaño de la familia y sexo) se compara con un nuevo enfoque integrador de la teoría estructural y de la teoría interactiva, la cual se centra en los procesos interactivos del grupo fraterno. No se obtuvieron resultados significativos utilizando el enfoque structural y sí se obtuvieron utilizando el nuevo enfoque. Se encontraron resultados significativos relativos a la adaptación familiar, al autoconcepto y a laspercepciones de las relaciones fraternas.

Abstract

The influence of sibling relationships on the psychological development of a group of school children (N = 903) is studied in this paper. Structural theory, which focuses on the sibling group's descriptor variables (birth order, age difference, family size, and gender), is compared with a new approach integrating structural theory and interactive theory and which focuses on the sibling group's interaction processes. Significant results related to family adaptation, self-concept, and perceptions of sibling relations were obtained with the new approach, though not with the structural perspective.

Extended Summary

A new perspective is adopted to study the impact of sibling relationships on the psychological development of a group of school children. Thus, instead of analysing the specific influence of a number of structural variables (i.e., birth order, age difference, family size, and gender), they were grouped and considered as a whole. This served to established the following four classification categories: 1) The differentiated group included children of any birth order, with a wide age gap with his/her siblings (three years or more), belonging to a small family (two members), and whose sibling is of a different gender. 2) The non-differentiated group included children who are not first born, with a small age gap with his/her siblings (less than three years), belonging to a family of three or more members, and who have one or more siblings of the same gender. 3) The semi- differentiated group is an intermediate group of children with a mixture of characteristics from the first two groups. 4) Only children were classified as a specific group.

A set of hypothesis were formulated to test if children in the differentiated and only groups are in a better position than those in the semi-differentiated and non-differentiated groups to benefit from parenting resources. If so, differentiated and only children would be less maladjusted, more intelligent, with a higher self-concept, and better perceptions of sibling relationships than children in the latter two groups.

Test measuring maladjustment, self-concept, intelligence factor, and the SRQ (Sibling Relationships Questionnaire) were administrated to a sample of 903 school children from two age groups: 8 years old (N=400) and 11 years old (N=503), average age.

Preliminary analyses were carried out to test if, taken separately, siblings' constellation of variables were related to measures of maladjustment, self-concept and intelligence. Pearson correlation analysis showed no significant relations. Anova were then completed to examine if sibling status groups (only children, differentiated, semi-differentiated, and non-differentiated) had a significant association with measures of maladjustment, self-concept, and intelligence. Results showed that only children had higher family self-concept scores compared with non-differentiated children. Also, the differentiated group perceived their mothers as being more restrictive than the group of only children. No other significant results were found.

Correspondence analysis were calculated to test if sibling status groups were associated with the categories of children's perceptions of sibling relationships. Most categories of item 4 (Would you like to change your position among your siblings? Answer yes or no, and explain why) were associated with sibling status. Thus, a profile of categories associated to each sibling status was obtained. Overall, children in the differentiated and semi-differentiated groups had a better perception of sibling relationships than those in the non-differentiated group. Some qualitative comments are also put forth.

The results lead us to the conclusion that structural theory is not an appropriate approach to investigate differences between siblings, even if siblings' constellation variables are grouped and considered as a whole. We recommend that a systemic approach is adopted to define a set of variables. This should include not only variables related to the sibling group, but also parental and cultural variables. That is, to gather enough information to gain an understanding of the different micro-environments within the family interaction, which in turn could help explain differences between siblings.

Palabras clave:

• Relaciones entre hermanos
• desarrollo psicológico

Keywords:

• Sibling relations
• psychological development