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THE SIBLING EXPERIENCE IS PART OF THE HUMAN INSTITUtion of the family. The family, in all its variations—nuclear, extended, or alternative types—has biological roots in the infant's long period of dependence on the adult for survival, no matter how active or competent the newborn may be. The forces which hold the family together include rational or pragmatic ones as well as the powerful affective and psychological ties which are intertwined with them. The latter, however, also give content and intensity to the psychic conflicts within the family. This is the setting in which the most enduring love ties are formed and in which the most abiding hatreds arise.
If the family is to serve its socializing, adaptive function, it must fulfill the same condition in both the sibling relationship and the parent-child relationship, namely, the relationships must be aim-inhibited in terms of the sexual and aggressive drives. As Freud (1930) pointed out, one price paid for this demand of civilization is repression and neurosis.
While the sibling experience is not essential for normal development and a significant portion of the population does not have it, the psychic life of those who do have that experience is profoundly influenced by it throughout their lifetime. The sibling