Communication Strategies in Intimate Sibling Relationships

Case Scenario
Marie recently graduated high school and in the fall will be leaving to attend a university, her brother, Dan, is younger than her by three years and has just finished his freshman year of high school. Over the course of the summer months Marie has been busy preparing herself for her first semester in college, while her parents have been scrambling to make sure she makes the adjustment smoothly into college. On the other hand, Dan has spent the majority of his summer working at the local supermarket, playing video games, and hanging out at the pool. In the times between, Dan tries to spend time with his family and sister, but feels like his parents don’t spend any time with him; Marie feels, however, that when she doesn’t have time to spend with anyone, let alone her brother. She believes Dan is smothering her and wants something from her that she doesn’t have right now. Dan gripes and complains that Marie gets all the attention and claims that no one cares about him. What complicates their problems even more is their age difference, while Marie is entering a turning point in her life and maturity, she feels that Dan is stuck in the same high school mentality, Dan just feels that his sister is acting like something she’s not.

Definition and Analysis of Sibling Rivalry
One of the most frequently-occurring relationship difficulties occurs between siblings. Sibling rivalry is any form of competition or animosity between brothers and/or sisters; whether or not they are related by blood. Most people in western cultures have at least one sibling, logically following; siblings spend more time together throughout childhood and adolescence than they do with their parents. There are many factors that complicate the brotherly or sisterly bond that sibling share; parental treatment, age, birth order, experiences and other people. What makes sibling rivalry a very pertinent issue to the human condition is its prevalence throughout recorded history. For

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