The Birth of Sibling Friendship: Mothers’ Perceptions of the Co-Parenting Relationship Prior to Siblings’ Arrival

• In Event: 2-066 - Is it Easier the Second Time? Parenting across the Transition from One Child to Two

Integrative Statement

Introduction: With the arrival of a newborn sibling, toddlers enter a period of transition that can precipitate a wide range of responses toward the new infant. Some that are negatively valenced, especially those marked by troublesome behavior, have been treated with greater regularity than those which are positively valenced, such as those which suggest friendliness within the budding child-newborn sibling relationship. The gap in understanding the formation of sibling friendship is of concern since the mere absence of troublesome behavior does not imply optimality in the sibling relationship.
Methods: Participants included 105 pregnant mothers and their toddlers (mean age = 29.99 months), who participated in laboratory visits one month before (T1) and one month after (T2) childbirth. At the T1 visit, mothers reported on child variables (CBQ, CBCL), parenting stress (PSI), and perceptions of the co-parenting relationship (PCPQ). Dyads were videotaped in a setting that looked like an infant’s nursery room while participating together in a brief episode that began with the mother directing affectionate attention exclusively toward a “baby”, which was actually a lifelike baby-doll, as if gently putting an infant down for a nap. Afterward, the mother pointed to a basket filled with diapers, pacifier, bottles and teething toys as she turned toward her child and asked the child to fetch an item for the “baby”. This episode was designed to simulate a situation that was likely to occur following the newborn infant’s arrival. Child compliance with the maternal request for behavior that is of benefit to another individual, which we refer to as Social Compliance, was coded by reliable, blinded observers for levels of Committed Compliance, Situational Compliance, Ambivalent Compliance, Passive Noncompliance, and Noncompliance/Defiance. At the T2 visit, mothers reported on their child’s positivity (SOS-P) and negativity (SOS-N) toward the newborn sibling.
Results: Correlation analyses revealed that higher scores on the SOS-P at T2 were preceded by higher scores for Social Compliance at T1, which were associated with mothers reporting lesser perceptions of negativity in the co-parenting relationship. Neither of the child measures yielded significant results. Contrastingly, higher scores on the SOS-N at T2 were preceded by higher CBCL problem behaviors at T1, which were associated with maternal reports of greater parenting stress.
Conclusion: This study examined social compliance in children in an eliciting condition where this behavior was to be displayed by a child toward the benefit of an infant who had just been the recipient of the mother’s affectionate attention. We interpreted greater levels of social compliance as an indication of greater friendliness. Thus, our findings on social compliance suggest that signs of friendliness are evident in children prior to a sibling’s arrival, especially in environments where mothers feel that their role as a parent is supported by their spouses. These findings call for further studies to unearth mechanisms through which cooperative behavior between parents is linked with friendly behavior by children toward their newborn siblings.

Authors

• Jennifer K Chapman, Eckerd College
  Presenting Author

• Sybil Hart, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author