Siblings’ Influence: Comparative Essay
Katie Crocker
Central Huron Secondary School
Introduction
Siblings’ influence has been loosely investigated throughout the years. It is a mystery why it hasn’t been thoroughly investigated since children typically spend more time with siblings than with parents in early and middle childhood (McHale & Crouter, 1996, as cited in Gibbs, 2005). Since early and middle childhood are very influential periods in your life, wouldn’t it make sense that siblings have a large influence on you in that time? Wouldn’t it make sense that that influence would be present with you for the rest of your life? The purpose of this research is to examine the power of sibling influence. This paper will discuss my literature review, my primary research, comparison of the two, the reliability and validity of my research, limitations of the research and recommendations/conclusion.
Literature Review Summary
In my Literature Review, I had five foci; gender, age, behaviours, relationship and birth order. The consensus with age was that the older sibling is the influencer and the younger sibling is being influenced. Older siblings influence their younger siblings’ development (Brody, 2004 as cited in Berger, 2006). I also found that the sibling influence is stronger when you have a same gender sibling pair. Researchers Morrongiello and Bradley (1997) found that boys have a higher chance of engaging and persuading their siblings into risky behaviours while girls were more likely to be concerned about safety. I found that the type of behaviours being influenced doesn’t necessary matter. If it is smoking or what you are going to wear to school, you’re sibling influenced you on it. When looking at relationships between siblings, a good relationship makes the influence stronger. Birth order showed that depending on when you were born you could be the influential sibling in the family. The first-born is said to be the leader, therefore, being very influential on the other siblings.
Primary Research Summary
In my Primary Research Report, I tried to focus on the same topics; age, gender, behaviours, relationship and birth order. Although, I did not find any information concerning birth order. I found that older siblings held the influence. Only 7% (1 person) of all the younger siblings that were surveyed said they would not take their siblings advice. 71% of all same gender siblings that were surveyed said that they would take their siblings advice “Just because she’s/he’s my brother/sister.” The fact alone that they were the same gender makes the influence stronger. The types of behaviours that siblings had the most influence on were sports, drinking and drug habits. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least, 5 being the most) 97% of all siblings surveyed said they got along with their siblings a 3 or higher.
Comparison
When you compare the literature review and the primary research report, I see many similarities. In both essays, it proves that age has an effect on sibling influence. The older sibling has the influence on the younger sibling(s). In my literature review, having an older sibling was said to be a bad influence. In the journal “Economic Inquiry” children with older siblings have engaged in more risky behaviour like smoking and drinking alcohol then children without an older sibling (Jayson, 2006). In my primary research report I found that the majority of the younger siblings that were surveyed said they would take their older siblings’ advice. Only 29% of the younger siblings that were surveyed said they might take their siblings’ advice depending on how good it was. So, this means the majority of younger siblings would just take the advice. They wouldn’t consider if it was bad or good advice, they would just listen to their older sibling. Even though the sibling is older, he/she might not necessarily give the younger sibling the best advice. Therefore just having an older sibling could be a bad influence.
Also in both essays gender has an effect on sibling influence. The siblings were more likely to interact about more serious problems with a same gender sibling. My literature review information indicated that gender had an affect on how risky a siblings behaviour was. In my primary research report I found that gender didn’t have as much as an influence as age did. When same gender siblings answered why they would not take their siblings advice, it was because they were too young to understand and not because they were a different gender.
In my primary research delete the work "essay" I found that the activities or behaviours siblings influence the most are sports, drinking and drug habits and school work. The only problem is I had no way of telling if the influence they were feeling about these things was good or bad. In my literature review siblings showed that they influenced their younger siblings into choosing less risky and sometimes more risky paths. I think that relationship affects if the sibling can be influential. If the relationship is good, the influence is stronger. They trust their sibling not to cheat or lie to them because of the good relationship they have. Therefore, they would take their siblings’ advice. In my literature review the same type of results were shown. The better the relationship with the siblings the better the influence. In my literature review it was said that siblings that were either half or step siblings displayed lower grades in school. Once the siblings could co-exist and get along the grades increased. In my primary research findings I had one sibling, who was surveyed, that was a half-sister. She said that she got along with her half-sister a 3 on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least, 5 being the most). That is in the middle so they can obviously co-exist with one another. The most common numbers on that scale were tied for 3 and 4, so those half-sisters were very normal. perhaps say they behaved normally
Birth order had some significance in my literature review. The literature review stated that birth order affects the personalities of children. If you are the first born you are supposed to be the leader. This would make sense with my research since the older sibling was usually the more influential one. In my primary research report, I did not find anything to do with birth order. I could have organized my survey to get better answers concerning the topic.
Reliability and Validity
I think that my findings have been reliable. I think they could have been better if my sample group had more variety like different cultures and types of families. One good reliability aspect was because I focused in on specific subheadings it would be more likely that if someone does the study again they will get approximately the same results. I think my study was very valid. Although my main question of research changed, I found out some very interesting things about siblings influence. did your study measure what it was supposed to ? I found that it should be studied in greater depth. I also researched some of the main factors contributing to sibling influence.
Limitations
Some of the limitations that were put on my study were time, size of sample and location. Time affected many things. It affected how many people I could survey and ultimately my sample size. It affected how much I could then analyze the information I found out. I was limited to less than one whole semester to finish the report. The location affected the different type of cultures and religions that I could have had. The location, Central Huron Secondary School, was also a restriction because I only surveyed people between the ages of 14-19. and it was not a very multicultural sample group - was very homogeneous
Recommendations/Conclusion
I think my survey could have been better. Looking back at it now, I think I could have had questions that were more specific. For example, when I asked what their siblings had an influence on and they choose drinking and drug habits, I had no way of knowing if that influence was a good or a bad influence. I could have added a question in like “Do you feel a bad influence or a good influence from your sibling?” I think that if I did this research over again I would have asked all age groups. For the people that have their own family I could have got different perspectives. I could have asked the parents if they think their children have influence on each other. I could also ask the parents if their siblings did or still do have an influence on them and what was it like? Maybe I could have even done this in an interview form.
To further this study I would do those extra surveys and interviews. I would expand my sample group and the amount of time I have to finish it. I would also explore other topics that may affect sibling influence like family situation (single parent, divorced, etc.). I would maybe try to investigate single child influences also.
This comparison essay discussed my literature review, my primary research report, a comparison of those two, reliability and validity, limitations and recommendations/conclusion. I have found some differences and some things that were the same while comparing. I also have thought of ways I could improve in the future. Overall I have found discovered some interesting information when it comes to siblings’ influence.
References
Berger, S. (2006) Older Siblings Influence Their Younger Siblings’ Motor Development:
Retrieved October.15, 2009 from HYPERLINK "http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p94112_index.html"http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p94112_index.html
Gibbs, B. (2005) Sibling Influence on Adolescent Alcohol, Cigarette, and Marijuana use:
Retrieved October. 18, 2009, from HYPERLINK "http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd927.pdf" http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd927.pdf
Jayson, S. (2006) Merely having an older sibling can be bad influence:
Retrieved October. 12, 2009, from HYPERLINK "http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-04-24-birth-order_x.htm"http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-04-24-birth-order_x.htm
Morrongiello B. A. and Bradley M. D. (1997) Sibling power: influence of older siblings' persuasive appeals on younger siblings' judgements about risk taking behaviours.
Retrieved October. 18, 2009, from HYPERLINK "http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/3/1/23"http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/3/1/23
