“Perpetrating sibling violence had the greatest impact on perpetrating
dating violence,” says lead author Virginia J. Noland, Ph.D., of
the University of Florida. “Parents should know that sibling violence
is not without consequences and sometimes the consequences are severe.”
The findings appear in the American
Journal of Health Behavior.
Noland and colleagues asked the students about both physical assault and
psychological aggression involving parents, siblings or dating partners.
Three-fourths of the students said a brother or sister had pushed or shoved
them or that they had done so to a sibling.
Males experienced more sibling violence, but women reported more dating
violence, both as victims and as perpetrators.
Noland says the context of female-on-male violence is unknown. Women may
be more willing to report using a violent tactic with a date without specifying
whether the violence was defensive or offensive. Violence by women against
a male date also lacks the societal stigma of the opposite dynamic.
In any case, Noland says, violence is much more accepted among both genders
today than in the past. The climate of violence in some families may be
reinforced by external violence, whether experienced in school or seen
on television, has an effect, as well.
“In the media, it’s as common today to see a woman hitting
a man as a man hitting a woman,” she says.
Even psychological
violence takes a toll over time, Noland says — being
called fat or ugly or stupid gets incorporated into a negative view of
one’s self.
The researchers found that males reported more violence with their siblings
than females, reflecting existing thinking about such conflicts. But relative
age proved more important than gender. Children closer together in age
experienced higher levels of violence. Sibling violence apparently peaks
when the oldest child in a pair is between 10 and 14 years old. It lessens
as children spend more time outside the home with their peers.
Parent-to-parent violence also proved to be less important than expected,
Noland says. Instead, the effect of parent-to-child violence on sibling
conflict was much more significant.
Noland says the
findings emphasize the danger of corporal punishment, which she says
sends the wrong message — that it’s
OK for big people to hit little people.
“Memories of parent-to-child violence experienced by the child supersede
memories of parent-to-parent violence that was merely observed,” she
says.
“We learn from the behavior of people important to us, especially
power figures,” she says. “Children who experience corporal
punishment may do it to their younger siblings and eventually to others.”
