Parental differential treatment in siblings
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Date
2012
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
The current study explored mothers’ and fathers’ differential treatment (PDT) of their offsprings in
seven domains (warmth, hostility, privileges, household chores, affection, discipline and temporal
involvement) and examined whether children, parental and contextual risk factors contribute towards PDT.
The study was undertaken in purposively selected Hisar city, of Haryana State. A total of 120 two -parent
families with two children in the age range of 10-17 years were selected randomly equally representing the
two SES groups i.e. upper-middle (60) and lower-middle (60) SES families. Within each SES group, equal
number of the four sibling sex constellations viz. boy-boy (15), boy-girl (15), girl-girl (15) and girl-boy (15)
were recruited. Thereby, the total sample was consisted of 240 children (120 older and 120 younger siblings)
and 240 parents. PDT was studied using a multi-informant approach. In the face of social norms for equal
treatment, the present study provided evidences that mothers and fathers often treat their offspring
differentially. As per siblings’ perception and parental reports regarding PDT, in the domains of warmth,
affection, and temporal involvement, over half of mothers and fathers both, favoured younger siblings more
than the older siblings, whereas, nearly same percentage of both parents were relativ ely more hostile,
stricter, assigned more household responsibilities to the older siblings. Interestingly, older siblings were
more favoured when granted privileges than the younger siblings. These results were equally true for both
the SES groups i.e. upper-middle and lower-middle SES families. The family patterns of PDT identified in
the present study reflected that there was a tendency toward congruence in mothers’ and fathers’ differential
treatment and therefore largest number of families exhibited con gruent pattern in their treatment of the
siblings across all the domains except in temporal involvement where complementary pattern was apparent.
Impact of sibling sex constellation on magnitude and direction of PDT was confirmed and it was seen that
prevalence of PDT was highest in opposite-sex dyads in all the parenting domains than in same-sex dyads in
both the SES families. Regarding comparison between children’s and parental reports on PDT, it was
observed that statistically significant differences were evident between the two informants’ reports. Children
reported to perceive higher degree of PDT than PDT reported by the parents. On an average, the predictors
explained 40 per cent of the variance in children’s reported maternal differential treatment and 34 per cent of
the variance in paternal differential treatment. The regression analyses further revealed that child
characteristics were the strongest determinant of PDT and as main contributor towards the variation
observed. Out of three parental variables fitted into regression equation, malaise played an important role in
PDT, whereas, for mothers’ differential treatment in domain of hostility mothers’ emotional intelligence and
impulsivity were the significant predictors. Surprisingly, among three c ontextual variables fitted into
regression equation, one variable namely, marital happiness provided independent prediction for fathers’
differential treatment, but this was not the case for mothers. This shows that contextual variables were
influencing fathers more than mothers.
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Keywords
Parental differential treatment, Two parent - families , Sibling - dyads, Parental factors, Contextual factors, Congruent pattern