Sibling and self appraisals

Abstract

In this study, sibling and self appraisals were examined to determine the patterns in their valence depending on time of observation, age of the children, target of the appraisal, and gender. Sibling and self appraisals were identified within naturalistic interactions of 39 sibling dyads at 2 time periods, when children were 2- and 4-years-old, and again when they were 4- and 6-ears-old. Children's interactions were observed and recorded within the family home for a total of nine hours at each observation period. Appraisals were identified as any statement about the sibling or the self that in some way evaluated or judged the skillfulness, morality, or general qualities of their siblings' or their own actions, reactions, personality, etc. Overall, findings indicated that children generally tend to appraise themselves positively and their siblings negatively. For sibling appraisals, though, older siblings tended to appraise their siblings more often than did their younger counterparts, and male-male pairings tended to appraise one another negatively more than in any other pairing. Both types of appraisals often occurred following some kind of provocation by the sibling or the self. The content of sibling and self appraisals also differed such that sibling appraisals focused on moral elements, whereas self appraisals were centred around the ability domain. With respect to the target of appraisals, children tended to state both sibling and self appraisals directly to their siblings. However, self appraisals directed to siblings were more often positive than negative, while the valence of sibling appraisals did not differ depending on to whom the appraisal was directed. Patterns in children's responses demonstrated that children tended to disagree with negative sibling appraisals, but were unlikely to oppose occasions where siblings had appraised themselves negatively. Parent responses to both sibling and self appraisals tended to focus on addressing negative behaviours that had occurred rather than making attempts to ameliorate the self-concept of the child who had been appraised negatively.

The relation between sibling appraisals and self appraisals is largely contemporaneous, but showed some consistency with both the Looking Glass Self (Cooley, 1902/1964) and Compensation models (e.g., Baumeister, 1982; Baumeister & Jones, 1978; Steele, 1988; Wood, Giordano-Beech, & Ducharme, in press). Although predictions within time make it difficult to specify the direction of causation, correlation patterns suggest that the greater the frequency of negative sibling appraisals, the greater the frequency of positive self appraisals, suggesting some consistency with the Compensation model. In addition, children's positive self appraisals also increased with the frequency of positive sibling appraisals. Findings for negative self appraisals were consistent with the Looking Glass Self model, such that negative self appraisals increased directly with increases in negative sibling appraisals. Notably, these findings were only evident in younger siblings' self appraisals. One other important limitation, though, is that the reality shared by the two children could not be controlled, and therefore, it may explain the correlations between children's appraisals. Other findings discussed within the thesis include reciprocation in children's appraisals, the context of sibling and self appraisals, and the responses of siblings and parents to appraisals.