Your Sibling Can Determine How Kind And Emphatic You Are-Study

Having a brother or sister could make you kinder and more empathetic, a new study has found.

It’s common for siblings to alternate from adoring to detesting one another but, aside from personality clashes and competing for everything from toys to attention, growing up with a brother or sister can truly play a significant role in a child’s development.

In fact, a new research has found that children whose brothers and sisters are kind, warm and supportive grow up to be more emphatic than children whose siblings lack those characteristics.

Similarly, researchers found that both older and younger siblings can positively influence each other’s emphatic concern over time.

The research, which was published in the journal Child Development, studied 452 Canadian sibling pairs – aged between 18 months and four years - and their mothers for a period of 18 months.

The aim was to find out whether the siblings’ level of empathy at the beginning of the study predicted changes in the other siblings’ empathy by the end.

As such, the researchers filmed interactions in the families’ homes and mothers completed questionnaires.

Children’s empathy was also measured by observing each sibling’s behavioral and facial responses to an adult researcher who pretended to be distressed or hurt. This included breaking a cherished object, hitting their knee and catching their finger in a briefcase.

The influence of older brothers and sisters was also stronger in families where the age gap between the siblings was greater, suggesting they were more effective teachers and role models.

 

 

 

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