Abstract
Despite being highly pervasive throughout childhood and into adulthood, sibling aggression has received very little attention in the family relations literature. Perhaps as a result, psychotherapists and family practitioners typically have limited knowledge in dealing with this problem. Although the predominant view of sibling aggression is that it is developmentally normal, there is sufficient evidence of considerable negative psychological and interpersonal consequences. As such, Jonathan Caspi has focused his attention in this book on the theme of sibling aggression, ranging from mild conflict to physical and sexual abuse. In particular, Caspi examines the previous literature on sibling aggression and predominant theories relevant generally to sibling relationships and outlines a treatment approach for working with families with sibling aggression problems.
The book includes nine chapters and five appendices. The first three chapters provide an overview of the literature on sibling aggression and highlight the applications of family systems, evolutionary, and social learning theories on sibling relational behavior. Caspi begins by defining sibling aggression as ranging from competition to abuse. He focuses on “typical” sibling rivalry (or competition) as well as conflict and abuse (physical, sexual, psychological, and relational). The factors that contribute to and maintain sibling aggression, such as parental differential treatment, labeling of children, one or more siblings’ limited empathy, birth order, age spacing, and gender of the siblings, are discussed. The second and third chapters focus predominately on family systems theory to explain the variety of sibling relational patterns. Specifically, enmeshed or disengaged interpersonal boundaries, violations of subsystem boundaries, and triangulation among family members are discussed as increasing the likelihood of sibling aggression. The third chapter also uses the evolutionary perspective to describe siblings’ development of niches (i.e., each sibling’s identities and associated activities) and social learning theory as a framework for how siblings learn to engage in maladaptive ways.
In Chapters 4 through 7, Caspi introduces and describes the task-centered sibling aggression (TCSA) treatment approach, including its principles, approaches to identifying problems, family dynamics, assigned tasks, and problem-solving strategies. Rather than being a cookbook treatment approach, the TCSA treatment approach is an organizing framework that integrates structural techniques and behavioral strategies to be tailored to five unique family dynamics. The TCSA approach is brief and is organized into three phases: initial, middle, and ending. The primary goals of this approach are to both eliminate harmful aggression and build supportive relationships. To accomplish these goals, the therapist engages (i.e., joins) with the family and defines and prioritizes target problems with the family in the initial phase. Action-oriented tasks are subsequently assigned during and between sessions to address maladaptive patterns of interaction and overcome barriers of change. During the ending phase, the therapist reviews target problems and identifies problem-solving strategies.
Chapter 8 presents a case example of a practitioner using the TCSA treatment approach with a family of a mother, father, and two boys aged 7 and 10. This family is noted as being referred for counseling because the oldest sibling increasingly has been getting into trouble at school. The practitioner works with the family over six 1-hr sessions, although the first two sessions are presented with the most detail. The therapeutic approach is described as straightforward but typical of most cases presenting with sibling aggression problems and without severe violence or abuse.
The final chapter (Chapter 9) covers additional applications of the TCSA treatment approach, such as families with marital conflict, intimate partner violence or child abuse, children who are violent toward their parents, or one or more of the siblings with a mental illness or a physical disability. Although most of the book focuses on families with children, a section of this chapter covers sibling aggression themes with adults. In addition, treatment modifications are briefly discussed in relation to clinical settings, out-of-home care settings, and other places where siblings reside or spend substantial time. Furthermore, Caspi highlights some treatment considerations, for example, when working with siblings where there has been abuse. The appendices of the book include a summary of the factors linked to sibling aggression, TCSA contracts, and task review forms that can be used in clinical practice.
Sibling aggression offers a major contribution to the family systems literature and provides family practitioners with a valuable resource in conceptualizing their cases and in applying tasks to improve sibling (and potentially broader family) relationships. It would also be quite useful for graduate students who often have more difficulty in coming up with tasks to assign their family clients, as this book includes a number of structured tasks that can be completed in session or between sessions. As a small point of criticism, perhaps readers will come to view sibling aggression as a conclusive and comprehensive reason for individuals’ psychological and interpersonal problems. However, it appears that Caspi’s intention in narrowly focusing on sibling aggression is to provide a succinct explanation of phenomena that has been largely ignored but that should at least be considered when addressing such problems.