Het Effect van de Kwaliteit van Brusjesrelaties op Internaliserend en Externaliserend Probleemgedrag en Sociale Competentie per Seksecombinatie

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the effect of the sibling relationship quality on both internalising and externalising problem behaviour and social competence. The different gender combinations are included in this study. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, mothers were asked to fill out a questionnaire for their children aged 4 to 6 years about problem behaviour, social competence and the sibling relationship. For a total of 327 parents, 236 mothers completed de questionnaire. Average age of mothers was 35.73 years. From the 115 boys and 121 girls, average age was 4.53 years. The children were classified into three different gender combination groups: 55 brother pairs aged 0 to 8 years, 58 sister pairs aged 0 to 6 years and 123 brother-sister pairs aged 0 to 6 years. Results: A significant positive effect was found of conflict in the sibling relationship on internalising problem behaviour, while no significant effect was found of sibling warmth. Regarding externalising problem behaviour, a significant positive effect of sibling conflict and a significant negative effect of sibling warmth was found. However no significant effect of conflict was found on social competence, whereas sibling warmth does have a significant positive effect on social competence. The effect of sibling warmth and conflict on internalising and externalising problem behaviour does not differ significantly between gender combinations. For social competence however, a significant interaction effect was found between gender combination and conflict indicating that the effect of conflict on social competence was significantly negative for brother pairs and significantly positive for sister pairs. Conclusions: The quality of the sibling relationship affects internalising and externalising problem behaviour and social competence in children aged 4 to 6 years, but it depends on the different quality of the sibling relationship (warmth and conflict) and gender combinations.