The Influence Of Preschool Children’s Temperament And Theory Of Mind On Sibling Relationship

With the implementation of the "comprehensive three child" policy,more children will grow up with their compatriots.Sibling relationship is the most lasting interpersonal link in the family micro system of individual growth,which is of great significance to the development of all aspects of people.Having a healthy and positive sibling relationship plays an important role in a person’s psychological development,mastering social skills or communicating with others in daily life,which shows the importance of sibling relationship to human development.Because family planning has been practiced in China for more than 40 years and has a far-reaching impact,researchers mainly focus on the growth of the only child,and there is still a lack of research on sibling relations in China,so it is necessary to study sibling relations.At present,researches on sibling relations mainly focus on family level,and pay less attention to individual level factors.First,children’s temperament and sibling relationship.Temperament,as the core factor of individual differences,especially children’s social withdrawal and aggression,has a limited impact on sibling relations.Specifically,social withdrawal is negatively correlated with sibling conflict / hostility,and aggression is positively correlated with sibling conflict / hostility.Secon dly,theory of mind and sibling relationship.Theory of mind(also known as mind reading ability)is also closely related to the relationship between compatriots.Theory of mind is positively correlated with positive sibling interaction and negatively correlated with sibling conflict / hostility.In addition,temperament will also have an impact on the development of children’s theory of mind.For example,social withdrawal can promote the development of theory of mind,while aggression will hinder children’s interpretation of other people’s psychological states.To sum up,based on the previous research results,it can be inferred that aggression makes children have a poor ability to interpret the psychological state of others and have more aggressive communication with their compatriots,resulting in more conflict / hostility among compatriots;Social withdrawal makes children better understand the psychological state of others,and can adopt better solving strategies to avoid sibling conflict / hostility when they are unhappy with their compatriots.It can be seen that temperament(especially social withdrawal and aggression),theory of mind and sibling relationship are closely related.From the perspective of sibling relationship,this study focuses on the influence of children’s temperament(specifically social withdrawal and aggression)and theory of mind on sibling relationship,to confirm which individual level factors affect sibling relationship,and further clarify the mechanism of children’s social withdrawal and aggression,and theory of mind on sibling relationship.In this study,178 families with two children were selected as the research objects.The quality of sibling relationship was evaluated by using the early childhood sibling relationship questionnaire(filled in by the mother).The children’s social withdrawal and aggressive temperament were evaluated by using the children’s behavior scale(filled in by the mother).The children’s theory of mind development scale was used to investigate the children’s ability of theory of mind,and the relationship between children’s temperament,theory of mind and sibling relationship,Committed to exploring the internal mechanism of temperament and theory of mind affecting sibling relations,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Social withdrawal was negatively correlated with positive sibling interaction,and positively correlated with sibling conflict / hostility and sibling avoidance;(2)There was a birth order difference in aggressiveness,which was manifested as follows: the aggressiveness of the first child was significantly higher than that of the second child;(3)The social withdrawal and aggression of the second child can negatively predict the positive sibling interaction;(4)Social withdrawal of children with two children can positively predict sibling conflict / hostility;(5)Theory of mind does not mediate the effects of aggression and social withdrawal on sibling conflict / hostility.Based on the above research conclusions,the following ideas and suggestions are put forward for parents to cultivate positive sibling relations and intervene sibling conflict / hostility: first,for cultivating positive sibling relations.(1)Parents should know more about the importance of sibling relationship for children’s development;(2)In case of conflict between siblings,parents should adopt reasonable resolution strategies to guide siblings to actively interact and cultivate their children’s ability to resolve conflicts;(3)Carry out high-quality parent-child interaction.Secondly,for the intervention of sibling conflict / hostility(1)parents are advised to adopt appropriate parenting styles to weaken the adverse effects of aggression and social withdrawal;(2)Parents are advised not to over fav or one of their siblings.