Strengthening children's sibling relationships using an online preventive intervention program for parents

Abstract

Objective: The purpose was to test a new evidence-based online preventive intervention designed to help parents improve the sibling relationships of their 4- to 8-year-old children. Background: Few evidence-based resources exist to address parents' concerns about fostering positive sibling relationships. To address this need, the emotion-focused online program placed parents in the role of educator, preparing them to teach their children social and emotional competencies shown in previous research to promote prosocial sibling interaction. Method: Eighty-six mothers provided assessments of children's sibling relationship quality, child and parent emotion regulation abilities, and coparenting quality prior to and following completion of four online lessons. A randomly assigned wait-list control group of mothers (n = 49) provided comparable assessments. Results: Repeated measures multivariate analyses of covariance revealed that, following program completion, participants perceived their children to demonstrate greater sibling warmth and less agonism and rivalry. Effects were sustained at 3 months. Mothers also reported increased abilities to regulate their own emotions as well as greater collaboration and support in their coparenting relationship. Conclusion: Results support the effectiveness of the online More Fun with Sisters and Brothers Program for Parents for enabling mothers from diverse international communities to support positive sibling relationships. Implications: Increasing access to evidence-based tools for strengthening sibling relationships can enable parents to support these vital lifelong bonds.