Sibling Bullying More Common At Home Than Bullying At School, Study Reveals

According to a study, sibling bullying is a kind of violence that includes foul insults, physical aggression, destruction and ganging up between siblings that takes place in a home. It is a lot more common than school bullying.

Parents.com reports that a study was issued in the Journal of Family Violence. It involved 400 students and they were asked about their childhood experiences. This includes a checklist that would determine which verbal and physical experiences would fall into the category of bullying. The outcome showed that most students had experienced bullying behaviors with their siblings as perpetrators rather than their peers.

NBC News reports another study that was led by the researchers from the University of New Hampshire -- finding out that about 32 percent of children who were bullied by their sisters or brothers had a higher rate of mental health distress. And research from Oxford University also reported that those children at age 12 who were bullied by siblings had suffered anxiety or depression at the age of 18.

The sibling bullying is linked to what they called sibling rivalry. The victims and the perpetrators even see the bullying as a rivalry, according to expert. "Rivalry is one word that they used," Lori Hoetger, a researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said.

Dr. Gail Saltz, a New York psychiatrist said that the old-fashioned rivalry may be the main cause of the bullying. Sibling rivalry has its origin in the ancient days and foresees as it will regenerate in the future days.

"It's understood that kids who are bullies at school are sometimes being bullied at home, often times by a sibling, though sometimes by a parent," Saltz said. "And it has a sustained impact-depression, insecurity and loss of trust and intimacy in relationships."

Sibling bullying is damaging just like school bullying for the victims as well as the perpetrators. Parents must talk to their kids on how to resolve conflicts, teach them to be harmonious with one another and minimize jealousy as seen as the main cause of sibling rivalry.