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News article: Bully in the next bedroom - are we in denial about sibling aggression? Part 1

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Siblings routinely pick on one another, but when does bickering become bullying - and what can

parents do about it?

Sibling relationships can be difficult, and never more so than in childhood.

But society often regards the scrapping and squabbling, the play fighting and

not-so-playful fighting as a normal part of growing up.

"The public brushes off aggression between siblings as just rivalry," says Corinna Tucker of the University of

New Hampshire.

Tucker is the lead author of a new study on the issue for the journal

Pediatrics.

Almost a third of the 3,600 children questioned said they had been the

victim of some sort of sibling aggression in the past 12 months.

They included a range of acts from theft and psychological abuse to

physical assault, either mild or severe.

In comparison, research suggests that up to a quarter of children are victims of schoolyard aggression every year.

Corinna Tucker uses the term "sibling aggression" in her study, but

psychologists are increasingly reaching for a familiar label for the bad stuff that goes on between brothers and

sisters - bullying.

This is defined by experts as intentional acts of aggression,

repeated over a period of time, where an individual or group is in a position

of power over someone.

So sibling relationships would seem the perfect breeding ground for

bullying, since children live together for a long period of time and there is usually an intellectual and physical

power imbalance.

Although there might not be an outright malevolence, there is often

reason for jealousy.

"A sibling relationship is emotionally intense - it's one of those relationships where you can love them and you can

hate them at the same time," says Tucker.

“And siblings are natural competitors for family resources and parents'

attention."

Laura - who grew up in a house she shared with four siblings and a foster

brother - did not consider it bullying at the time, but now thinks the term

captures what went on in their house in Ohio.

"My older brother - I would say he beat up on all of us," she says, her

voice breaking.

Although he never hurt them badly, he liked to wrestle his sisters, pinning

them to the floor.

"He was bigger and stronger than us -he could put us in very powerless

situations. It was really scary."

For her brother, she believes, the activity gave him a momentary sense

of control at a chaotic time for the family.

Her mother, who had depression, had left home.

Thanks for watching

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