Sibling Relationships

Gifted Family Description

Although giftedness is an individual label, researchers have sought to understand the family background of precocious children. Studies have shown that giftedness runs in families. Often when a gifted child is labeled, parents realize their own giftedness that may not have been identified when they were [Page 806]children. Therefore, a child is more likely to be surrounded with gifted siblings and parents than to be the sole gifted person in the family.

Gifted Sibling Relationships

Labeling a child gifted can have some implication for the adjustment of siblings that may later affect the sibling relationships within the household. There are incidents of individual children being labeled gifted but another is not, and many studies focus on the relationship consequences of this disparity. The problems that manifest when one child is labeled gifted and another is not likely stem more from the parents' reactions to this. If parents pour attention and energy into the labeled child at the expense of other children, sibling rivalry and resentment will more likely occur. Other research indicates that relationships among gifted siblings are more adjusted than are their counterparts across the general populations. Nicholas Colangelo and his colleagues discovered that although there is an initial, slightly negative reaction of siblings to one of them being labeled gifted, this effect diminishes with time, with attitudes becoming positive or neutral.

Current Research of Personality and Interests of Siblings

Although birth order is an often-researched area when looking at individual differences in personality and interests, results have been inconclusive and inconsistent. Variables such as age spacing between siblings and intermarriage of families confound the generalizability of any birth-order relationship with personality that has been garnered.

Several theories of learning and development may inform subsequent research; two of these are social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura and sibling deidentification, attributed to several different theorists including Alfred Adler.