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Chinese parents’ comparisons of siblings and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2020

Bin-Bin Chen Open the ORCID record for Bin-Bin Chen [Opens in a new window] ,
Yang Qu  and
Xiaochen Chen
Bin-Bin Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China The Laboratory of the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Yang Qu
Affiliation:
School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Xiaochen Chen*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China The Laboratory of the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
*
Author for correspondence: Xiaochen Chen, Room D-1008, HuiXian Building, Zhongguancun Street #59, Haidian Dist., Beijing, 100872P.R. China; E-mail: xiaochenchen@ruc.edu.cn.
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Abstract

Parents’ comparisons of siblings have been understudied among sibling research, especially in Chinese societies where the government recently relaxed its one-child policy. This study, using a two-wave longitudinal design, explored how parents’ comparisons of siblings were associated with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Study participants were 260 Chinese adolescents who had siblings and completed questionnaires that assessed their internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as their perceptions of parents’ critical comparisons of siblings. Cross-lagged modeling analysis showed that parents’ comparisons of siblings predicted more internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents 6 months later. Moreover, adolescents’ externalizing problems but not internalizing problems predicted more parents’ comparisons of siblings over time. These findings underscore the importance of reciprocal relations between parents’ comparisons of siblings and adolescents’ externalizing problems and the implication of cultural context in understanding associations between parental practices and adolescents’ adjustment.

Keywords

adolescentChinapsychopathologysibling comparisons
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 914 - 921
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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