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Annotated Bibliography

Why are siblings similar or dissimilar?

David Ramsey

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

March 16, 2018

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Annotated Bibliography

Kluger, Jeffrey. Interview by Ira Flatow. “Science At The Sibling Effect.” NPR, National Public

Radio, 16 Sept. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/09/16/140537846/science-looks-at-the-sibling-

effect. Accessed 7 February 2018.

The awarding winning host and executive producer of “Science Friday”, Ira Flatow, is

back with another weekly broadcast on Public Radio International in which he interviews

Jeffrey Kluger. The article that I will utilize as my popular source is from the popular

news source NPR that aired on September 16, 2011 between these two distinguished

men. The main reason why Jeffrey Kluger was being interviewed by Ira Flatow was to

discuss Jeffrey’s new book titled, The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers

and Sisters Reveal About Us. His book examines the highly dynamic world of sibling

bonds and the intertwined factors that work together that shape those relationships. The

topic of the broadcast, besides the promotion of Jeffrey’s book, was birth order and how

much impact does birth order have on us. Birth order is the order in which you were born

in relationship to your siblings. During the interview, Jeffrey touches on some of the

factors that surround sibling bonds such as their effects on our conflict resolution, step

sibling bonds, and the impact of parenting styles. In addition, Ira Flatow and Jeffrey

Kluger were answering questions via phone calls from the viewers. For example,

Michelle, a female caller, expressed that she has an older sister of three years; however,

she in fact is the sibling that distinguishes the traits of being the first-born child such as

being taller, having a better career, and being closer to the family. Additionally, that her

dad remarried which led her to be the recipient of two step-siblings, a brother and another

sister, in which she has a more robust sibling bond with than her toxic relationship with
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her full-blooded sister. Therefore, Michelle’s question for Jeffrey Kluger was, given the

fact that she has such a volatile relationship with her biological sister, was there any

information that he had unearth from his research that could explain the phenomenon of

her being closer to her step-siblings as opposed to her biological sister? Essentially,

Jeffrey Kluger explains to Michelle that there are always exceptions to the rules when it

involves factors such as birth order across families. Jeffrey Kluger further explains that

step-siblings can indeed serve the function as a de facto sibling when there is an

egregious relationship with their blood sibling. Overall, this was a great and notable

source. Along with NPRs well known respect, the host, Ira Flatow, is a distinguished

science correspondent and TV journalist which adds value to the creditability of this

source. Furthermore, Jeffrey Kluger is a senior writer at Time magazine and currently has

written nine books. Also, his name has populated on a lot of my searches and his

evidence coincides with other research material I have gathered. The benefits of tapping

into a resource such as this is that it gave me great keywords to utilize, thus continuing

the journey to acquire new knowledge about this topic. Another benefit was that it

allowed me to see what the current discussions were and as a byproduct, new questions to

lead my research. In addition to all the benefits, this source will allow me to refrain from

only having to use one source to cite the same information when it comes time to cite the

sources and write my paper. Due to the ponderous information within this article I will be

utilizing it as a source. Moreover, this source aids me in my research by allowing me to

acquire and develop some of the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate my own

sibling bonds such as the age gap that exist between myself and my youngest sister,

Samantha.
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Kluger, Jeffrey. The Sibling Effect: What The Bonds Among Brothers And Sisters Reveal About

Us. Penguin Group, 2011.

In this academic source, a book titled, The Sibling Effect: What The Bonds Among

Brothers And Sisters Reveal About Us, written by Jeffrey Kluger, the author examines the

diverse and complex world of sibling bonds. The author not only uses cutting edge

research to build his book, but also uses his own experiences from his childhood

periodically. This book opens with a short story from the authors childhood with his three

brothers in which they protect him from their father. The author uses this story to jump

start his web into the myriad of factors that contribute to how and possibly why the

sibling bond is as strong as it is. Some of the factors that the author discusses are birth

order, sibling rivalries, parental favoritism, and blended families. Specifically, the author

wants to draw attention to the importance of the sibling bonds over parent bonds or at

least the two bonds are equal in their influence on shaping our lives. As I mentioned

earlier Jeffrey Kluger is an outstanding writer as he has written nine books. Currently, he

is a senior writer at Time magazine. In addition, the author survived growing up with

three brothers and at one time two step siblings, so he has experienced the diversity of

having a blended family as well as a traditional family. All these attributes culminate to a

very qualified source of information on the topic of sibling bonds as well as the many

sources of research that he utilized. As far as the golden goose of information on the topic

of sibling bonds, this book is that very source. This book has given me a plethora of key

terms that I will utilize in building my own research. For example, a dyad is a

relationship between two parts such as a mother and a child or the relationship between

siblings. Another term that was supplied within this text was de-identification which is
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the process in which children pick personalities to offset a sibling. For example, if one

sibling is the fun one then the other sibling will be the serious one. Along with the

excellent terms and logical overview of the dynamics of sibling bonds, this book has

given me solid studies and bright individuals to view their research outcomes. Overall,

this book has helped my research by narrowing in on the categories that may affect my

own sibling bonds. Also, the material that is covered by this author coincides with my

other findings. Due to those reasons I will use this source heavily in my own research.

Rodgers Joseph, Cleveland Harrington, Edwin Oord, and David Rowe. “Resolving the Debate

Over Birth Order, Family Size, and Intelligence.” PubMed, vol. 55, no. 6, 2000, pp. 599-

612, DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.55.6.599. Accessed 25 February 2018.

During this summary, evaluation, and usefulness period, I will not only be discussing the

American Psychological Association as a valuable website to further my research but

also, the fruit that has already yielded. The fruit, speaking metaphorically, came by way

of a press release that I located on the American Psychological Association website

which lead me to this webpage article. Created in 1892, the American Psychological

Association began with only thirty-one members and now, has over 115,700 members

and 54 divisions in subfields of psychology. Additionally, the American Psychological

Association is the leading scientific and professional organization representing

psychology in the United States. All their APA members are doctoral-level psychologists

in a plethora of field settings for example, academic research and hospitals to name a

few. Furthermore, American Psychological Association’s goals are to advance the

creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society

and improve people's lives. Upon opening the American Psychological Association
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website, its’ members have access to a wealth of information, but more importantly, a

community. The homepage tabs include publications and databases, psychological help

center, news and events, sciences, education, and careers, to name a few. These tabs are

the means in which its’ members gain great resources and contacts. For example, the

publications and databases tab allow members and the public to access different types of

research material such as scholarly article reviews. Another example, the news and events

tab which once clicked reveals a hive of social and relevant news such as a recent press

release and an upcoming conference. Overall, this website is an excellent source for

members and non-members alike. The authors in this research article addresses the

ineffective means in which studies have been performed on correlating birth order and

intelligence. Specifically, the authors draw attention to earlier studies that were based off

the assumption that bigger families make low-IQ children. Additionally, the authors

stress the differences in how an investigator interprets the information that is yielded. The

research article calls to the difference between using cross-sectional data and with-in

family data to support a causal link between birth order and intelligence. Cross-sectional

data is data that compares one family to another whereas with-in family data thoroughly

examines each aspect of each family member regarding other families. The author’s

highlight the results using the cross-sectional data reflect that there is a casual link

between birth order and intelligence. Contrary to that result, the with-in family data

suggest there is little if zero correlation between birth order and intelligence. Regardless

of the methods in which scientist utilize to evaluate the dynamics of family, there is no

argument that sibling bonds and parent bonds contribute to a degree the influence on us.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the authors biographies besides what was listed as
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an author’s note displaying what department they worked in. However, that does not

delegitimize this work because their work is displayed in the American Psychological

Association database which means the authors are probably members. Just to reiterate,

APA members are doctoral level psychologists which means the APA members have a

PhD, PsyD, or EdD in psychology from a regionally accredited institution. This research

article has been very beneficial since it gives me some more tools to evaluate my own

research. In addition, the authors display a counter perspective to most of the research I

have already completed regarding the significance of birth order. Furthermore, this

research article gives me additional studies that offer me the other side of the discussion.

Lastly, I will be using this article in my extended inquiry project as well as the American

Psychological Association database to unearth future research information.

Whiteman Shawn, McHale Susan, and Soli Anna. “Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling

Relationships.” HHS Public Access, vol. 3, no. 2, 2011, pp. 124-139,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127252/. Accessed 7 February 2018.

In this scholarly journal titled, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, the

authors attempt to arouse interest in sibling dynamics research and as a leader for future

inquiries. Shawn Whiteman, Susan McHale, and Anna Soli are the authors for this

scholarly journal. The authors apply four theoretical psychologically oriented

perspectives to the dynamics of siblings mainly through the childhood and adolescence

age frame due to the lack of research on the sibling bond as it ages. Psychoanalytic-

evolutionary, social psychological, social learning, and family-ecological systems are the

four perspectives the authors use. Psychoanalytic-evolutionary perspectives focus on

species-typical patterns of behavior due to attachment and the survival function of social
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behavior. Social psychological perspectives look at how others influence one another and

their motivations. Social learning perspectives suggest a gained behavior through

observing others. Family-ecological systems view families as independent elements that

are always in flux with each other, extended families, and their surroundings. In this

scholarly journal these four different perspectives are utilized as lens to examine a myriad

of environmental factors such as parent styles, gender differences, and birth order. Given

the fact that this is a scholarly journal, the information found within had to be peer

reviewed and verified for accuracy. In addition, I searched the authors of this scholarly

journal and was very pleased with the results. Shawn Whiteman has a B.A. and M.A.

degrees in Psychology and a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies. Susan

McHale is a distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and

Professor of Demography Director to name a few of her titles. Unfortunately, my

research of the author, Soli Anna, did not yield any results. However, with two out of the

three authors having multiple degrees and currently working in the field of my topic, I

will still stand firm on the quality of this scholarly journal. Also, the information that I

have found here goes along with my other material that I have researched which also aids

its’ validity. Along with the plethora of key words and raw information this source

provided, this source also produced many links to studies to further my knowledge base

in this complex area. Overall, this scholarly journal has become an essential part of the

perspectives that I will utilize to analyze my own unique sibling bonds. Additionally,

research without this source would not have aided me in finding a logical and reasonable

method in navigating this multi-facet, yet, interesting topic. Given the great attributes this
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scholarly journal has provided me with, I will utilize it heavily in the future in my

ssresearch to unlock the hidden gems within my own dynamic sibling bonds.