Peer-reviewed article
The Short-Term Influence of Sibling Proactive and Reactive Aggression on Subsequent Peer Aggression.
Fite PJ, Baca SA, Solano C, Hichborn E, Wright K et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how aggression between siblings influences aggression between peers among elementary school children over six months. The research found that both reactive aggression (impulsive responses to provocation) and proactive aggression (planned harmful behaviour) between siblings predict similar types of aggression toward peers later. The effects were stronger for boys when it came to proactive aggression. The findings suggest that understanding sibling aggression is important for preventing violence across children's relationships.
Key points
- Sibling reactive aggression was positively associated with peer reactive aggression six months later
- Sibling proactive aggression was associated with peer proactive aggression six months later
- The association between sibling proactive aggression and peer proactive aggression was significant for boys only
- Both types of sibling aggression predict subsequent peer aggression within an academic year
- Study included 290 elementary school-age children (54.8% male) with at least one sibling
Limitations
The study relies on self-reported aggression which may be subject to recall bias or social desirability bias. The research does not identify causal mechanisms or test any intervention, so it cannot explain why sibling aggression influences peer aggression.
Abstract
Although common, sibling aggression among youth is not well studied. This is a major omission in the literature, as sibling relationships have been found to influence other relationships. As such, the current study evaluates the links between self-reported sibling proactive and reactive aggression and peer proactive and reactive aggression six months later in a sample of 290 (54.8% male) elementary school-age youth who reported having at least one sibling. Gender differences in associations were also examined. Findings indicated that sibling reactive aggression was positively associated with peer reactive aggression six months later, over and above the stability of sibling proactive aggression and peer reactive aggression. Similarly, sibling proactive aggression was associated with peer proactive aggression over and above the stability of sibling reactive aggression and peer proactive aggression. However, gender differences were evident for proactive aggression. That is, sibling proactive aggression was associated with subsequent peer proactive aggression for boys only. Findings indicated that both sibling proactive and reactive aggression are associated with subsequent peer aggression within an academic year, suggesting the need to better understand sibling aggression for the prevention of aggression across relationships. Further, it appears that sibling proactive aggression is more influential on proactively aggressive behaviors toward peers for boys than girls.