Psychopathology and Sibling Violence in a Sample of Portuguese Adolescents

Patrícia Pereira Lopes; Inês Carvalho Relva; Otília Monteiro Fernandes

doi:10.1007/s40653-017-0194-4

Psychopathology and Sibling Violence in a Sample of Portuguese Adolescents

J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2017 Sep 27;12(1):11-21. doi: 10.1007/s40653-017-0194-4. eCollection 2019 Mar.

Authors

Patrícia Pereira Lopes¹, Inês Carvalho Relva^{1

2}, Otília Monteiro Fernandes¹

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Education and Psycology, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Building of ECHS - Polo I, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
² 2Centre for Social Studies of University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

Abstract

Sibling violence appears to affect the psychological well-being of adolescents, making them susceptible to the development of psychopathological symptomatology. In a sample of 463 Portuguese adolescents with siblings, we intended to ascertain to what extent psychopathological symptomatology varies depending on age and gender; and to analyze whether the tactics of conflict resolution exert a predictor effect on psychopathological symptomatology. The results of the current study showed that females and older adolescents (17-20 years old) seem to be the most vulnerable to psychopathological symptomatology development. We also found that the perpetration of psychological aggression is the only type of violence that positively predicts the evaluated psychopathological symptomatology. Therefore, high rates of sibling violence can be an alert to psychopathological problems that might ensue. Psychological aggression can lead to mental health problems for siblings, so it would be important to implement prevention and intervention programs in this area.

Keywords: Adolescents; Psychopathology; Siblings; Violence.