Abstract
Youth’s perception of parents’ differential treatment (PDT) are associated with maladjustment during adolescence. Although the direct relations between PDT and youth’s maladjustment have been well established, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. We addressed this gap by examining whether sibling jealousy accounted for the links between PDT and youth’s depressive symptoms, self-worth, and risky behaviors. Additionally, we examined whether youth’s perceptions of fairness regarding their treatment as well as the gender constellation of the dyad moderated these indirect relations (i.e., moderated-indirect effects). Participants were first- and second-born adolescent siblings (M = 15.96, SD = .72 years for older siblings, M = 13.48, SD = 1.02 years for younger siblings) and their parents from 197 working and middle class European American families. Data were collected via home interviews. A series of Conditional Process Analyses revealed significant indirect effects of PDT through sibling jealousy to all three adjustment outcomes. Furthermore, perceptions of fairness moderated the relations between PDT and jealousy, such that the indirect effects were only significant at low (−1 SD) and average levels of fairness. At high levels of fairness (+1 SD) there was no association between PDT, jealousy, and youth adjustment. Taken together, results indicate that youth and parents would benefit from engaging in clear communication regarding the reasoning for the occurrence of differential treatment, likely maximizing youth and parent perceptions of that treatment as being fair and in turn mitigating sibling jealousy and maladjustment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression. Beverly Hills: Sage Publishing.
Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., & Burke, M. (1987). Child temperaments, maternal differential behavior, and sibling relationships. Developmental Psychology, 23, 354–362. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.23.3.354.
Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., & McCoy, J. K. (1992). Associations of maternal and paternal direct and differential behavior with sibling relationships: Contemporaneous and longitudinal analyses. Child Development, 63, 82–92. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03597.x.
Daniels, D., & Plomin, R. (1985). Differential experience of siblings in the same family. Developmental Psychology, 21, 747–760. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.5.747.
Eccles, J. S., & Barber, B. (1990). Risky behavior measure. Unpublished scale, University of Michigan.
Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., & Adler, T. (1984). Grade-related changes in the school environment: Effects on achievement motivation. In J. G. Nicholls (Ed.), Advances in motivation and achievement (pp. 283–331). Greenwich: JAI Press.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. Psychological Issues.
Feinberg, M. E., & Hetherington, E. M. (2001). Differential parenting as a within-family variable. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 22–37. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.22.
Feinberg, M. E., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Cumsille, P. (2003). Sibling differentiation: Sibling and parent relationship trajectories in adolescence. Child Development, 74, 1261–1274. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00606.
Feinberg, M. E., Neiderhiser, J. M., Simmens, S., Reiss, D., & Hetherington, E. M. (2000). Sibling comparison of differential parental treatment in adolescence: Gender, self-esteem, and emotionality as mediators of the parenting-adjustment association. Child Development, 71, 1611–1628. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00252.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202.
Garber, J., Robinson, N. S., & Valentiner, D. (1997). The relation between parenting and adolescent depression self-worth as a mediator. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 12–33. doi:10.1177/0743554897121003.
Goodwin, M. P., & Roscoe, B. (1990). Sibling violence and agonistic interactions among middle adolescents. Adolescence, 25, 451–467. doi:10.1007/bf00977037.
Hair, E. C., Moore, K. A., Garrett, S. B., Ling, T., & Cleveland, K. (2008). The continued importance of quality parent–adolescent relationships during late adolescence. Journal of research on adolescence, 18, 187–200. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2008.00556.x.
Hart, S. L., & Legerstee, M. (2010). Handbook of jealousy: Theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches. Hoboken: Wiley.
Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 87-97. doi: 10.2307/1129640.
Hayes, A. F. (2009). Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new millenium. Communication Monographs, 76, 408–420. doi:10.1080/03637750903310360.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). An introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Kowal, A., & Kramer, L. (1997). Children’s understanding of parental differential treatment. Child Development, 68, 113–126. doi:10.2307/1131929.
Kowal, A., Kramer, L., Krull, J. L., & Crick, N. R. (2002). Children’s perceptions of the fairness of parental preferential treatment and their socio emotional well-being. Journal of Family Psychology, 16, 297–306. doi:10.1037//0893-3200.16.3.297.
Legerstee, M., Ellenbogen, B., Nienhuis, T., & Marsh, H. (2013). Social bonds, triadic relationships, and goals. Handbook of jealousy: Theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches (pp. 161–191). John Wiley & Sons.
McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., McGuire, S. A., & Updegraff, K. A. (1995). Congruence between mothers’ and fathers’ differential treatment of siblings: Links with family relations and children’s well-being. Child Development, 66, 116–128. doi:10.2307/1131194.
McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Tucker, C. J. (1999). Family context and gender role socialization in middle childhood: Comparing girls to boys and sisters to brothers. Child Development, 70, 990–1004. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00072.
McHale, S. M., & Pawletko, T. M. (1992). Differential treatment of siblings in two family contexts. Child Development, 63, 68–81. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03596.x.
McHale, S. M., Updegraff, K. A., Jackson-Newsom, J., Tucker, C. J., & Crouter, A. C. (2000). When does parents’ differential treatment have negative implications for siblings? Social Development, 9, 149–172. doi:10.1111/1467-9507.00117.
McHale, S. M., Updegraff, K. A., Shanahan, L., Crouter, A. C., & Killoren, S. E. (2005). Siblings’ differential treatment in Mexican-American families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1259–1274. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00215.x.
McHale, S. M., Updegraff, K. A., & Whiteman, S. D. (2012). Sibling relationships and influences in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 913–930. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.01011.x.
Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Major, B., & Seery, M. (2001). Challenge and threat responses during downward and upward social comparisons. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 477–497. doi:10.1002/ejsp.80.
Meunier, J. C., Bisceglia, R., & Jenkins, J. M. (2012). Differential parenting and children’s behavioral problems: Curvilinear associations and mother–father combined effects. Developmental Psychology, 48, 987–1002. doi:10.1037/a0026321.
Milevsky, A., Smoot, K., Leh, M., & Ruppe, A. (2005). Familial and contextual variables and the nature of sibling relationships in emerging adulthood. Marriage and Family Review, 37, 123–141. doi:10.1300/j002v37n04_07.
Parker, J. G., Low, C. M., Walker, A. R., & Gamm, B. K. (2005). Friendship jealousy in young adolescents: Individual differences and links to sex, self-esteem, aggression, and social adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 41, 235–250. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.1.235.
Parsons, T. (1974/1942). Age and sex in social structure. In R. L. Coser (Ed.), The family: Its structures and functions (pp. 243–255). New York: St. Martins. (Originally published in American Sociological Review, 7, 604–616).
Patterson, G. R. (1984). Siblings: Fellow travelers in coercive family processes. In R. J. Blanchard (Ed.), Advances in the study of aggression (pp. 174–214). New York: Academic.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401. doi:10.1177/014662167700100306.
Richmond, M. K., Stocker, C. M., & Rienks, S. L. (2005). Longitudinal associations between sibling relationship quality, parental differential treatment, and children’s adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 550–559. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.19.4.550.
Ruble, D. N., Boggiano, A. K., Feldman, N. S., & Loebl, J. H. (1980). Developmental analysis of the role of social comparison in self-evaluation. Developmental Psychology, 16, 105.
Salovey, P. (1991). The psychology of jealousy and envy. New York: Guilford Press.
Salovey, P., & Rodin, J. (1984). Some antecedents and consequences of social-comparison jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 780–792. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.47.4.780.
Schaefer, E. S. (1965). Children’s reports of parental behavior: An inventory. Child Development, 36, 413–424. doi:10.1011/j.1467-8624.1965.tb05305.
Scholte, R. H., Engels, R. C., de Kemp, R. A., Harakeh, Z., & Overbeek, G. (2007). Differential parental treatment, sibling relationships and delinquency in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 661–671. doi:10.1007/s10964-006-9155-1.
Schulenberg, J., & Maggs, J. L. (1999). Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schwarz, J. C., Barton-Henry, M. L., & Pruzinsky, T. (1985). Assessing child-rearing behavior: A comparison of ratings made by mother, father, child, and sibling on the CRPBI. Child Development, 56, 462–479. doi:10.1011/j.1467-8624.198.tb00120.x.
Shanahan, L., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Osgood, D. W. (2008). Linkages between parents’ differential treatment, youth depressive symptoms, and sibling relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 480–494. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00495.x.
Shebloski, B., Conger, K. J., & Widaman, K. F. (2005). Reciprocal links among differential parenting, perceived partiality, and self-worth: a three-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 633. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.19.4.633.
Slomkowski, C., Rende, R., Conger, K. J., Simons, R. L., & Conger, R. D. (2001). Sisters, brothers, and delinquency: evaluating social influence during early and middle adolescence. Child Development, 72, 271. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00278.
Smetana, J. G. (1988). Concepts of self and social convention: Adolescents’ and parents’ reasoning about hypothetical and actual family conflicts. Development during the transition to adolescence: The Minnesota symposia on child psychology , Vol. 21 (pp. 79–122). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Steinberg, L., Mounts, N. S., Lamborn, S. D., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1991). Authoritative parenting and adolescent adjustment across varied ecological niches. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 1, 19–36. doi:10.1111/1532-7795.ep11522650.
Suls, J., Martin, R., & Wheeler, L. (2002). Social comparison: Why, with whom, and with what effect? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 159–163. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00191.
Thompson, J. A., & Halberstadt, A. G. (2008). Children’s accounts of sibling jealousy and their implicit theories about relationships. Social Development, 17, 488–511. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00435.x.
Tseung, C. N., & Schott, G. (2004). The quality of sibling relationship during late adolescence: Are there links with other significant relationships? Psychological Studies-University of Calicut, 49, 20–30.
Volling, B., Kennedy, D., & Jackey, L. (2013). The development of sibling jealousy. In S. Hart & M. Legerstee (Eds.), Handbook of Jealousy: Theory, research, and multidisciplinary approaches (pp. 387–417). Hoboken: Wiley.
Wheeler, L., & Miyake, K. (1992). Social comparison in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 760. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.62.5.760.
Wheeler, L., Shaver, K. G., Jones, R. A., Goethals, G. R., Cooper, J., Robinson, J. E., & Butzine, K. W. (1969). Factors determining choice of a comparison other. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 219–232. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(69)90048-1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Loeser, M.K., Whiteman, S.D. & McHale, S.M. Siblings’ Perceptions of Differential Treatment, Fairness, and Jealousy and Adolescent Adjustment: A Moderated Indirect Effects Model. J Child Fam Stud 25, 2405–2414 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0429-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0429-2