Sibling-Peer Research Group

Study Summary

• We are conducting a longitudinal study of sibling and friend relationships as contexts for social and cognitive development in early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence.
• The study focuses on qualitative differences among sibling and friend relationships, contrasts among children's and adolescents' interactions with siblings and with friends, and linkages between children's and adolescents' sibling and friend relationships.
• We have visited the target children in our study during early childhood and middle childhood and are in the process of following them up in adolescence. At each visit, we have videotaped them interacting with siblings and friends and have collected maternal questionnaires about their sibling and friend relationships and their individual temperaments. At the middle childhood and adolescent visits, we have also collected questionnaire data about the sibling and friend relationships from the target children and their siblings and friends.