Your friend Shabrisha is concerned because her 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son seem to fight constantly. Shabrisha's daughter has always been temperamental and Shabrisha thinks that the fighting may be her fault

Question

Shabrisha remembers being very close to her sister when they were children and she thinks that her own children might be unusual because they fight so much. What can you tell Shabrisha about the factors that are related to harmonious relationships between siblings?
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A good answer will be similar to the following:
The first factor that is related to the quality of sibling relationships is gender. Same-sex siblings tend to have better relationships than opposite sex siblings. The second factor is temperament. Siblings tend to have better relationships when neither child is emotionally temperamental. Third, if children believe that their parents do not have favorites they will have a better relationship with each other. Fourth, relationships generally improve as the younger sibling approaches adolescence. Fifth, less conflict between parents is related to less conflict between siblings. Based on these factors, Shabrisha's children already have two factors working against a harmonious relationship: they are a mixed-sex pair and one of them is emotionally temperamental. Shabrisha also should look at her treatment of her children to see if she plays favorites and at the quality of her relationship with her husband. Even if there is nothing that she can do, the sibling relationship should improve as her son approaches adolescence.