The influence of interparental conflict on sibling relationship quality in intact and separated families

Abstract

Background: The central aim of this paper is to explore whether interparental conflict has an effect on sibling relationship quality in intact and separated families. The demand for this research comes from conflicting and dated literature regarding the effects of interparental conflict and family structure on sibling relationship quality, while separation within families has seen an increasing trend ov e r the latest years. Methods: The data used for this study comes from cross-sequential research about relationships, parental separation and problem solving skills of adolescents and families. The research exists of six waves from 2006 to 2016. Only the first wave, which includes the concept of sibling relationship, is used. Results: The current study shows that there is no effect of family structure on sibling relationship quality. Another result is a small, negative correlation between interparental conflict and sibling relationship quality. At last, an interaction effect between interparental conflict and family structure on the sibling relationship quality is found. This interaction effect shows that interparental conflict has a negative effect on the sibling relationship in intact families and no effect on sibling relationship in separated families. Conclusion: The positive effect of interparental conflict on the sibling relationship in separated families indicates that siblings in separated families comfort and support each other more when confronted with interparental conflict. The negative correlation indicates that increases in interparental conflict can be related to decreases in sibling relationship quality.