Fan Xingyu, Liu Yi
School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China.
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Development, Changchun 130024, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Jul 14;14(7):599. doi: 10.3390/bs14070599.
Evidence from Western developed countries has consistently found that children with sibling(s) showed better perspective-taking (PT) than only children. However, this was not the case in developing countries like China. Our study investigates whether the potentially hindering effect of having sibling(s) on PT persists into adulthood within the context of contemporary Chinese culture. We employed self-report questionnaires to measure PT, perceived parental care, and sibling relationships among Chinese young adults (21.93 ± 2.35 years old). Our findings indicate that in China, (1) having sibling(s) hinders individuals' PT in adulthood, (2) a potential mechanism for this effect is that having sibling(s) leads individuals to perceive less parental care during early life, and (3) for those with sibling(s), higher sibling intimacy can enhance PT, particularly among older sister-younger brother pairs. These results suggest that in developing countries such as China, while sibling(s) may diminish PT to some extent, factors like parental care and sibling intimacy can serve as protective factors that mitigate the negative impacts of sibling(s) on PT.
来自西方发达国家的证据一致表明，有兄弟姐妹的孩子比独生子女表现出更好的换位思考能力（PT）。然而，在中国等发展中国家情况并非如此。我们的研究调查了在当代中国文化背景下，有兄弟姐妹对换位思考能力的潜在阻碍作用是否会持续到成年期。我们采用自我报告问卷来测量中国年轻成年人（21.93±2.35岁）的换位思考能力、感知到的父母关爱以及兄弟姐妹关系。我们的研究结果表明，在中国，（1）有兄弟姐妹会阻碍个体成年后的换位思考能力，（2）这种影响的一个潜在机制是有兄弟姐妹会导致个体在早年感受到较少的父母关爱，（3）对于有兄弟姐妹的人来说，更高的兄弟姐妹亲密感可以增强换位思考能力，尤其是在姐姐-弟弟组合中。这些结果表明，在像中国这样的发展中国家，虽然兄弟姐妹可能在一定程度上降低换位思考能力，但父母关爱和兄弟姐妹亲密感等因素可以作为保护因素，减轻兄弟姐妹对换位思考能力的负面影响。
