Sibling Relationships: An Educational Resource and a Way of Evaluating the Quality of Family Relationships

An educational proposal based on sibling relationships is presented in this paper. A group of criteria has been prepared from current research data, which may be useful for professionals working on family counselling and family assessment. Given the deep impact that family interaction has on psychological development, the aim of this proposal is to use sibling interaction as a source of stimulation to improve developmental processes. A reference guide to help deal with everyday problems in sibling relationships, is also presented. The proposal is concluded with a questionnaire designed to obtain some information about how parents think and act with regard to sibling relationships in relation to cognitive, social and emotional development, and also about sibling conflict. Family counselling criteria can be set according to the results of the questionnaire.