Associations of maternal and paternal direct and differential behavior with sibling relationships: contemporaneous and longitudinal analyses.

In this study we examined associations of 4 paternal direct and differential behaviors with concurrent and longitudinal assessments of sibling relationships, as well as the unique contributions of mothers' and fathers' behavior to the sibling relationship variables. Observational assessments of maternal and paternal direct and differential behavior, as well as observational and self-report assessments of sibling relationship quality, were obtained. Only one difference emerged between rates of maternal and paternal behavior toward the children; however, paternal behavior accounted for unique variance in sibling relationship quality more often than did maternal behavior. The results are discussed in terms of relative parental availability.