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Linkages Between Parents’ Differential Treatment, Youth Depressive Symptoms, and Sibling Relationships
Author(s) -
Shanahan Lilly,
McHale Susan M,
Crouter Ann C,
Osgood D. Wayne
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00495.x
Subject(s) - sibling , sibling relationship , psychology , depressive symptoms , differential treatment , developmental psychology , birth order , longitudinal study , differential effects , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , cognition , psychiatry , population , pathology , sociology , international trade , business
We tested social comparison predictions about cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations between parents’ differential treatment of siblings and both youth depressive symptoms and sibling relationship qualities from middle childhood to late adolescence, controlling for dyadic parent‐child relationships and siblings’ ratings of parents’ fairness. Participants were parents and first‐ and second‐borns ( M = 11.8 and 9.2 years old at Year 1) from 201 White, middle/working‐class families. Three‐level models revealed both cross‐sectional and longitudinal linkages between differential treatment and outcomes. For example, youth whose parent‐child relationships decreased in warmth relative to those of their sibling reported increases in depressive symptoms and decreases in sibling warmth. Gender and age moderated differential treatment‐depressive symptoms associations; birth order moderated differential treatment‐sibling relationship associations.