Perceptions of sibling relationships among children of women experiencing depressive symptomatology and control women

Goodwin, Jacqueline (1995) Perceptions of sibling relationships among children of women experiencing depressive symptomatology and control women. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The present research compared twelve children of women experiencing depressive symptomatology with twelve children of control women on their perceptions of sibling warmth/closeness and conflict as measured by the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire. Assignment to group was based on mothers' responses to the Beck Depression Inventory and the Depressive Symptomatology Inventory. The mean Beck score for the women in the target group corresponded to a moderate to severe rating of symptomatology. It was hypothesised that the children in the target group would perceive greater sibling conflict and less sibling warmth/closeness than the children in the control group. Results of two t-tests for independent samples indicated that the two groups of children did not differ significantly on their ratings of sibling warmth/closeness and conflict. However, these results are difficult to interpret because of the small sample size in the present study. A significant negative correlation was found between all children's perceptions of sibling warmth/closeness and sibling conflict. This finding contradicts past research. Correlations between the sibling warmth/closeness and conflict ratings for the target and control groups separately were of equivalent magnitude. These findings are discussed with respect to past research and future implications.

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