Citation

Rapoza KA, Cook K, Zaveri T, Malley-Morrison K. J. Fam. Issues 2010; 31(6): 808-829.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0192513X09359158

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Sibling abuse has been studied much less extensively than other forms of family violence in the United States; moreover, research on how sibling abuse is viewed in different ethnic-minority groups has been rare. Convenience samples of Native American (n = 25), Latino/Hispanic (n = 45), African American (n = 30), European American (n = 78), Asian Pacific American (n = 31), and South Asian American (n = 29) participants responded to an open-ended survey requesting examples of extreme, moderate, and mild sibling abuse. Asian Pacific Americans listed proportionately more instances of physical aggression in their examples of mild abuse and of psychological aggression in their examples of severe abuse—an inverse of the pattern in the other groups. South Asian Americans mentioned beating and hitting significantly more often than other groups. In addition, European American participants gave the most instances of sexual abuse. Gender differences were found, with women mentioning physical aggression between siblings more often than men as extreme abuse.