Abstract
Accounts when siblings worked together (sibling alliances) were examined to determine the impact of sibling alliance attempts on family relationships. Two hundred alliance attempts comprised the data, including one hundred successful and one hundred unsuccessful alliance attempts. Respondents indicated that engaging in the reported alliances was approximately as likely to have a positive effect on the relationship among siblings as to have no effect at all. Negative effects of sibling alliances were found in under 5% of cases. Most of the reported alliances had no effect on the relationships between targets of the alliance and the sibling allies. In those accounts when family alliance outsiders were aware of the alliance attempt, they were likely to respond favorably to the alliance attempt. Respondents indicated that managing competing dialectical tensions was a significant part of some sibling alliances.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
46
Issue
1
First Page
75
Last Page
93
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Nicholson, John H.
(2014)
"Sibling Secrets, Conspiracies, and Collaborations: Dialectical Tensions and the Relationship Effects of Sibling Alliances in Families,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 46:
No.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol46/iss1/8
Copyright
©2014 Iowa Communication Association
