Poster #39 - Raising Siblings is Stressful: Assessing Parental Emotion Regulation and Coparenting Quality in the Sibling Context

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Raising siblings presents logistical and emotion-laden challenges for parents that differ substantially from those of raising a single child. In particular, parents’ ability to manage intense emotions in the face of conflictual sibling interactions and to effectively coordinate their parenting with a partner, are unique challenges that have been linked with a variety of child and parent outcomes. However, few instruments have been expressly designed to assess dimensions of parenting in the sibling context. In this study, we tested the reliability and validity of two new instruments designed to measure the degree to which parents engage in effective emotion regulation (Parental Emotional Regulation in the Sibling Context Questionnaire; PERSCQ) and coparenting (Parenting Siblings with Your Partner; PSYP) while caring for multiple children. The current study considers these complexities of raising siblings as part of a larger study that evaluated the effectiveness of a new online version of a preventive intervention program for enhancing children’s sibling relationship quality.

Participants were 359 mothers and 38 fathers who provided baseline data in an evaluation study of a new online program to help parents promote positive sibling relationships among their 4- to 8-year-old children. Virtual recruitment yielded an international sample of parents that spanned 35 countries. Older siblings were on average 88.25 months (SD = 12.65) and younger siblings were 61.20 months (SD = 11.71), with an average age difference of 27.20 months.

Results support the utility of the two instruments in reliably assessing dimensions of parental emotional regulation, particularly reactivity (alpha = .83 for mothers, alpha = .72 for fathers) and dysregulation (alpha = .82 for mothers, alpha = .68 for fathers). Similarly, internal consistency was adequate for assessing coparenting quality: collaboration/support (alpha = .89 for mothers, alpha = .90 for fathers) and disagreements/undermining (alpha = .78 for mothers, alpha = .79 for fathers). Test-retest reliability over a 2-month period was robust for both instruments. Evidence for the construct validity of the PERSCQ came in part from expected associations with Gross and John’s (2003) established Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Path analysis, using Mplus version 8.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2019), demonstrated that maternal dysregulation predicted lower levels of sibling warmth (β = -.28) and higher levels of sibling agonism (β = .38) and rivalry (β = .24), after controlling for maternal global emotion regulation and children’s emotion regulation abilities. A second path model with acceptable fit indicated that maternal reports of coparenting collaboration/support predicted greater sibling warmth whereas disagreements/undermining predicted greater sibling agonism, after controlling for mothers’ and children’s emotion regulation abilities (see Table 1).

These findings have implications for the reliable identification of parents who are facing emotion regulation and coparenting difficulties, the design of customized intervention strategies, and for assessing the effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs. The results of this study reinforce the importance of examining coparenting dynamics and parental emotion regulation within the sibling context, so that we can ultimately determine how to help parents coordinate their parenting so they can best support the development of their children’s sibling relationships.

Authors

• Laurie Kramer, Northeastern University
  Presenting Author

• Niyantri Ravindran, University of Georgia

• Briana Paulo, Northeastern University

• Payton Bruland, Northeastern University

• Reshika Devarajan, Northeastern University