Parental Intervention and Sibling Violence: The Mediating Effect of Siblings’ Conflict Management

This research examines to what extent siblings’ conflict management mediates the association between parental intervention and sibling violence. Adolescents (M age = 14.80) in Flanders (Belgium) reported on the parental intervention style their parents use, their involvement in physical sibling violence and the conflict management strategies they use when having a conflict with their sibling. Hierarchical logistic regressions show a mediating effect of siblings’ positive problem solving, conflict engagement, and withdrawal on the association between parental controlling and adolescent use of sibling violence. Siblings’ positive problem solving and conflict engagement also mediate the association between parental controlling and adolescent experience of sibling violence. Siblings’ withdrawal mediates this association only partially. Siblings’ conflict engagement and withdrawal mediate the association between parental non-involvement and adolescent experience of sibling violence. Compliance did not mediate this association. The results indicate the need to support parents to create a family environment where conflicts are managed constructively.