The Development of an Early Childhood Sibling Relationship Quality Questionnaire in China: from Parents’ Perspective

• In Event: 1-070 - Exploring Links between Family Processes and Child Development in China

Integrative Statement

Sibling interactions have been a widely studied research topic in Western cultures (Feinberg, Solmeyer, & McHale, 2012). However, due to the “only child” policy, for multiple decades this topic was dismissed in China since majority of the family structures involved only one child. Recent adoption of the two-child policy in China represented a major change in social policy that influences individual families’ structure and dynamics. The number of families with more than one child is growing in China, calling for more research on sibling interactions in the context of contemporary Chinese culture. The major goal of the current study was to develop a questionnaire for measuring sibling relationship quality in early childhood for Chinese children and to examine its reliability and validity. Given the age range, we chose to focus on parents’ report instead of children’s self-report. Conceptual structure of sibling relationships, including the dimensions of warmth, conflict, and rivalry, was borrowed from the well-established theoretical and empirical work in the literature (Kramer & Baron, 1995). To assure cultural relevance of the new questionnaire, Chinese parents were recruited to generate specific behavioral items that tap into these dimensions. These items formed the foundation of the Chinese questionnaire and were compared with items and questionnaires developed in similar manners in the U. S. 
 Through interviews, 40 mothers of young children nominated behavioral indicators for each of the above-mentioned three dimensions, which generated 22 items for the initial questionnaire. Using these items, 324 parents in the preliminary study and 540 parents in the subsequent study rated the quality of their children’s sibling relationships on a 5-point Likert scale. Item analyses, reliability analyses, and exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses were conducted to assess the questionnaire.
18 items were selected to be included in the Sibling Relationship Quality Questionnaire in Early Childhood. The internal consistency of three dimensions ranged from 0.79 to 0.88, and the retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.74 to 0.94. The confirmatory factor analyses showed that the questionnaire fitted the data with strong construct validity. Comparing this with similar questionnaires developed in the U. S., we discussed Chinese parents’ emphases on culturally specific items such as courteous compromising (谦让，Qian Rang) among siblings, as well as Chinese parents’ lower level of attention to the respect of personal space and emotional sharing among siblings. These differences were interpreted within the cultural framework of interdependence vs. independence, vertical vs. horizontal relationships, and role-based social conventions vs. individuals’ expressions.
In conclusion, Sibling Relationship Quality Questionnaire in Early Childhood has good psychometric indexes, and can be used for assessing sibling relationship quality among Chinese children. Development of this questionnaire showed the integration of fundamental concepts shared across cultures and their culturally specific demonstrations. Studying and comparing child development in diverse cultural contexts will deepen our understanding of the related topic.

Authors

• Yan Wang, Endicott College
  Presenting Author

• Yan Li, Shanghai Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tiantian Liu, Shanghai Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author