Quality of sibling relationships and preschooler’s emotion regulation

Emotion regulation in early childhood is important for children’s later socioemotional outcomes. Preschoolers learn and development strategies for emotion regulation within their immediate environments which is often exemplified by the parent-child relationship and the sibling relationship. However, there is a gap in the literature exploring the unique influence of sibling relationship quality on preschooler’s emotion regulation strategies. Parents/guardians with a preschool-aged child (3 to 5 years of age) and an older sibling (1.5 to 3 years older than the preschooler) completed an online retrospective pretest posttest survey. The survey included questions about the family’s response to Covid-19 in March 2020 and during Fall 2020, the quality of sibling relationship, preschooler’s emotion regulation strategies, and the family emotional climate. Results demonstrated the quality of sibling relationships was associated with preschooler’s emotion regulation strategies. Family emotional climate (e.g., expressiveness, parental positive affect, and responsiveness) also was associated with the quality of sibling relationships. The current study adds to the existing literature by using developmentally appropriate operationalizations of sibling relationship quality, as well as addresses the lack of research on the association between sibling relationships and preschooler’s emotion regulation. Future directions should include a larger sample size, integrate latent constructs, and use longitudinal analyses to explore potential bidirectionality.