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IN CONSIDERING THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS ON PERSONALITY DEvelopment, psychoanalysts have traditionally focused on three sets of issues (Colonna and Newman, 1983). First, the role of siblings as rivals for parental (largely maternal) attention has long been recognized, with conflicts around the birth of new siblings being singled out for particular emphasis (Levy, 1937). Second, psychoanalysts have always been sensitive to the manner in which traumatic experiences with siblings in childhood (e.g., sexual incidents, intense hostility, or the death of siblings) may be major determinants of later pathology. Third, from the earliest days of psychoanalysis, siblings have been included among the members of the supporting cast in oedipal dramas, playing such roles as fantasized offspring, parent surrogates, additional rivals, or alternative objects. In general, classical psychoanalytic accounts of sibling relationships have concentrated on their problematic aspects and pathological consequences, considered these relationships chiefly in terms of their effects on the resolution of oedipal conflicts, and implied that the significance of such relationships derives largely from children's primary relationships with their parents.