PEP | Article - Brother, Sister, Where Art Thou? Rethinking the Role of Siblings in Child Development Attachment Research: A Narrative Review and Original Findings from the London Parent-Child Project

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Abstract

Sibling bonds are often central in children’s everyday lives, but they remain underrepresented in developmental and clinical research. This article reviews the developmental and clinical significance of sibling relationships through the lens of attachment theory and presents some original research on siblings that were participants in the London Parent-Child Project. We examine how sibling relationships contribute to children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development. We highlight the bidirectional and ambivalent nature of sibling interactions, the moderating effects of parental differential treatment, and the predictive role of attachment representations within the sibling subsystem. We further explore cross-cultural perspectives, sibling dynamics in adoptive placements, and findings from the Friends and Family Interview administered to siblings.

Brother, Sister, Where Art Thou? Rethinking the Role of Siblings in Child Development Attachment Research: A Narrative Review and Original Findings from the London Parent-Child Project

Miriam Steele PhD

Alfred J. and Monette C. Marrow Professor in Psychology and codirector of the Center for Attachment Research at the New School for Social Research. Her research began with the study “Intergenerational Patterns of Attachment,” which embodied one of the first prospective longitudinal studies incorporating the Adult Attachment Interview and Strange Situation protocols. This work was important in initiating the concept of reflective functioning and providing empirical data to demonstrate the importance of parental states of mind in the social and emotional development of their children with a longitudinal focus on their development into adulthood. Dr. Miriam Steele is an Anna Freud Centre trained psychoanalyst, also licensed in New York, where she manages a private psychoanalytic practice.

Alexander Kriss PhD

Associate Professor of Psychology at Fordham University, where he serves as director of the Fordham Community Mental Health Clinic and associate director of clinical training. He is the author of The Gaming Mind: A New Psychology of Videogames and the Power of Play (2020), Borderline: The Biography of a Personality Disorder (2024), and the forthcoming Borderline Personality Disorder: A Contemporary Introduction (part of the Routledge Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis series). Dr. Kriss serves on the board of trustees of the Austen Riggs Center, the executive board of the Westchester County Psychological Association, and the editorial board of the journal Psychoanalytic Psychology. His private psychotherapy practice is based in Sleepy Hollow, NY.

Howard Steele PhD

Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research. At the New School, Dr. Steele codirects (with Dr. Miriam Steele) the Center for Attachment Research. He is also senior and founding editor of the international journal Attachment and Human Development, and founding president of the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies. Howard is a third-year candidate in the license qualifying program in psychoanalytic training at the William Alanson White Institute, New York City.

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