Sibling socialization of competence in rural, single-parent African American families

Older siblings' contributions to younger siblings' competence net of parent ing processes were examined with 152 pairs of first-born (M = 11.7 years) a nd second-born (M = 9.2 years) siblings in rural, single-parent African Ame rican families. The possible moderational effect of sibling conflict on the association between older and younger siblings' competence was also examin ed. Mothers reported their parenting practices, teachers assessed siblings' competence, and older siblings reported sibling conflict lei,els. Structur al equation modeling indicated that parenting was linked with older sibling s' competence, which in turn was linked with competence among younger sibli ngs. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that older and younger sibli ngs' competencies were linked when sibling relationships included low level s of conflict.