Parental division of household labour and sibling relationship quality: family relationship mediators

Research examining antecedents to sibling relationship quality have explored factors such as parenting and temperament(Brody,1998); however, there has been no previous research on the topic of the current study. The present study used a cross-informant approach to examine parent–child and marital relationships as potential mediators of links between parents’gendered attitudes and behaviours and sibling relationship quality. One hundred and twenty-four families with older (M = 7.4 years) and younger (M = 5.2 years) siblings were assessed. Parents reported on division of household labour, gender-role attitudes and marital satisfaction. Each child reported on sibling relationship quality and parental warmth and hostility. Results revealed a link between more egalitarian division of household labour and more positive sibling relationship quality. Furthermore, this association was not mediated by the marital nor parent–child relationship. We conclude that families with a more egalitarian division of household labour may model positive interactions for siblings.