Observed sibling interaction: Links with the marital and the mother-child relationship

The study examines whether the link between the marital relationship and sibling interaction is direct or mediated by the mother-child relationship. Seventy-three same-sex sibling pairs aged 3 years 6 months to 8 years 6 months were observed during flee play. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing marital functioning and their relationship with their 2 children. Results indicated that older siblings' negative behavior is linked with negative dimensions of the marital and the mother-child relationship, whereas younger siblings' negative behavior is linked with the mother-child and the differential mother-child relationship. Siblings' positive behavior, although linked with spacing, is not linked with positive dimensions of family interaction. Most important, the linkage between negative marital relations and older siblings' negative behavior was found to be mediated by maternal power assertion, thereby supporting the indirect model of negative family interaction.