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All in the Family? Family Environment Factors in Sibling Violence

Journal of Family Violence volume 21, pages 497–507 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Sibling violence is presumed to be the most common form of family violence and the least studied. Based on data from “Physical Violence in American Families, 1976,” this paper assesses the family environment factors associated with sibling physical violence. Of a range of potential family influences, measures of family disorganization were the most significant predictors of sibling violence, overriding the characteristics of children or particular family demands. What mattered most to the occurrence of sibling violence was a child’s actual experience of physical violence at the hands of a parent, maternal disciplinary practices and whether husbands lose their temper. These findings point to the deleterious effect of corporal punishment, and suggest sibling violence in families is associated with more ominous family and gender dynamics.

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Notes

  1. The survey asked about children both under the age of 3 as well as those between the ages of 3–17. Most analyses of spouse and child abuse using this data set have analyzed parents with children between the ages of 3–17. Since our focus is on sibling violence, something that could occur even at very young ages, plausibly with older children victimizing even infants, we elected to include parents with two or more children of any age range.

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Acknowledgments

A version of this paper was originally presented at the annual meetings of the American Criminological Association, San Francisco, CA, November, 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Human Development Program and the Department of Sociology, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA

    Shelley Eriksen

  2. Department of Sociology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA, 91330, USA

    Vickie Jensen

Authors
  1. Shelley Eriksen
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  2. Vickie Jensen
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Correspondence to Shelley Eriksen.

Appendix

Appendix

  Conflict Tactic Scale: Child-to-Child Conflict in the Past Year
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Eriksen, S., Jensen, V. All in the Family? Family Environment Factors in Sibling Violence. J Fam Viol 21, 497–507 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-006-9048-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-006-9048-9

Keywords

  • Sibling violence
  • Physical aggression
  • Sibling abuse
  • Childhood and adolescence
  • Sibling conflict
  • Family violence/abuse
  • Family environment
  • Corporal punishment