Family sociogram in adolescents depending on their sibling position and the number of children in the family

Abstract

The role of siblings in human life remains an important research topic. Socio-cultural transformations cause changes in the ideas about personality traits related to the sibling position and the number of siblings in the family. The article investigates the place which adolescents with different numbers of siblings and different sibling positions have in the family system. The study was conducted using the projective technique Family Sociogram (E.G. Eidemeiller, V. Justickis). The sample included 77 adolescents —students in grades 6–8 of a general education secondary school in Saint Petersburg. It was found that only children have a closer distance with both parents, and their circles significantly more frequently overlap with their parents’ circles (which may indicate a symbiotic, codependent relationship). Only children significantly more often include pets in the family system, but at the same time have a quite large distance with them. Adolescents with one sibling are more distanced from all family members, and their circles do not overlap with those of their siblings, although there are occasional overlaps of their circles with the circles of their parents, which may indicate insufficient differentiation of family subsystems. Adolescents with one sibling put a pet at the closest distance — the pet probably performs the function of replacing emotionally close relationships that are missing. Adolescents with two or more siblings have a close distance with both parents and the nearest sibling, and their distance with the father is the smallest compared to the other groups of adolescents, which may indicate an involved fatherhood in large families. Adolescents with two or more siblings do not have overlapping circles with their parents, although their circles may overlap with those of siblings, grandparents or the family system as a whole, which may indicate a clear differentiation between the parent and sibling family subsystems. Adolescents with two or more siblings rarely include pets in the family system, which may indicate that pets do not have the function of replacing emotionally close relationships which are missing.