Healthy Relationships Between Siblings May Enhance Vocabulary Skills In Younger Ones: Study

Little ones always crave attention from their parents but in a bigger family that may not always be possible. A recent study reveals that healthy interactions between the siblings may fill up that vacuum and help in shaping vocabulary skills of the child in early months.

 The researchers at University of Toronto, Canada, have done a study on the effects of positive interactions with older siblings how in turn they boost up the IQ level and vocabulary skills in their younger siblings.

"The idea is that here is this effect of being in a large family where you don't get that many resources, but if you get an older sibling that's really attuned to your needs that would be a modifying effect," said Jennifer Jenkins, the lead author of the study, reports Reuters Health.

Previous studies have shown that children born in bigger families do not acquire sound IQ and vocabulary skills compared to the ones born in smaller families. In larger families, the attention of the parents gets diverted across multiple members and the newborn sometimes gets overlooked.

Here is where the older siblings can play a bigger role, the researchers stated. The researchers explored the data collected on an existing trial that included 385 units of mother and children in Toronto with the child  having an older sibling, at least four years older or more. The mothers and the older siblings were assessed on their roles in the development of the younger child.

The younger ones were also given a vocabulary test and were made to identify objects. The little ones with too many siblings performed poorly compared to children in smaller families.

The older ones who scored higher on the feedback back form were found to have positively influenced their younger brothers/ sisters who scored better in the vocabulary test compared to the other participants.

According to the researchers, there are multiple elements determining the vocabulary skills in children like their age, gender etc. However, the positive influence of the older sibling in development of such skills may be small but definitely can't be ignored. But this process can work in  reverse even, where the younger ones contribute to the growth of the older siblings, stated the researchers.

"It's multiple and multiple accumulating influences," Jenkins said in a statement. "I think all of these small influences are worth paying attention to."

An earlier study stated that baby talks blabbered by the parents and music therapies stimulate further vocabulary skills in newborns.