Citation

Deal JE. Fam. Process 1996; 35(3): 333-346.

Affiliation

Department of Child Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58105, USA. jdeal@badlands.nodak.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9111713

Abstract

Sibling differential experience of the family environment has recently come to the forefront of both the family and the developmental literatures. One hypothesized determinant of such treatment is marital conflict. The present report used structural family therapy as a theoretical framework to examine the relation between marital conflict and differential treatment of siblings in a sample of married couples with preschool and elementary-school children. The results did find a significant, though modest, relation between marital conflict and differential treatment, suggesting that positive marital communication in an environment of mutual respect serves to lower the rate of differential treatment of siblings within the family.

Language: en