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Many recent public awareness campaigns have centered on preventing bullying among peers, whether that bullying happens at school or the workplace. However, newer and more effective studies have begun exploring the home because the place where the psychological mechanisms that give rise to bullying first take root.
In one particular study recently published within the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, researchers found a relatively casual attitude toward bullying between siblings.
Study researchers said they attempted to discover if siblings see sibling bullying normally and also to examine the victim-perpetrator differences in perceptions of sibling bullying. Volunteers included 27 sibling pairs who provided stories about personal experiences of sibling bullying, completed surveys regarding these experiences and responded to their sibling’s stories.
The researchers said 75 % from the participants reported being bullied by a sibling and 85 % said they’d bullied a sibling.
“Normally in bullying research, percentages are significantly lower for perpetration than victimization,” said study author Robin Kowalski, a psychologist at Clemson University. “Notably, within this research on sibling bullying, percentages were higher for all those prepared to admit to perpetrating sibling bullying, suggesting it wasn’t all that big an offer.”
The researchers supported their findings with a lot more data that showed there is a norm of acceptance about sibling bullying among sibling pairs. The study also showed that victims and perpetrators didn’t see specific cases of sibling bullying the same way. Victims saw cases of sibling bullying more negatively than their perpetrators did.
Kowalski said she hopes these findings will ultimately raise understanding of an understudied phenomenon.
“People have a tendency to think that siblings are going to tease and bully each other; just goes with the territory,” Kowalski said. “Minimizing the behaviour in this way, however, does not examine the consequences that sibling bullying can have for the relationship between your siblings involved, something that most definitely needs additional research.”
She added that annual checkups at the pediatrician’s office might be used as a venue to increase awareness about sibling bullying.
“Annual checkups having a pediatrician would likely assist with increasing awareness about and preventing sibling bullying,” said Kowalski. “It’s an excellent forum for professionals to educate and talk to parents by what is going on using their children regarding bullying.”
A related study published in June found that sibling aggression could be just like traumatic for any youngster or adolescent as bullying from an unrelated peer. Published within the journal Pediatrics, the research was based on data in the National Survey of Children’s Contact with Violence.
“For all types of sibling aggression, we discovered that to be the victim was linked to lower well-being for children and adolescents,” lead author Corinna Jenkins Tucker, an associate professor of family studies at UNH, told USA Today.
“Even kids who reported just one instance had more mental health distress,” she added.
According to Tucker, the study demonstrated that parents should regard sibling aggression like a serious factor when considering their child’s mental health.
“If siblings hit one another, there’s a much different reaction than if that happened between peers,” she said. “It’s often dismissed, seen as something that’s normal or harmless. Some parents think it’s beneficial, as good training for dealing with conflict and aggression in other relationships.”
