Younger Siblings Teach Older Siblings Empathy, Study Confirms

Baby siblings teach their older brothers and sisters empathy, new research reveals. Until now, younger kids have generally been regarded as attention hogs who learn plenty from their older siblings but don’t give back much. But this study, published in Child Development confirms that younger siblings ensure their big brothers and sisters don’t grow into big assholes — no easy task.

“Although it’s assumed that older siblings and parents are the primary socializing influences on younger siblings’ development, but not vice versa, we found that both younger and older siblings positively contributed to each other’s empathy over time,” study coauthor Marc Jambon, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, said in a statement.

Prior sibling studies have disproportionately focused on the influence of older brothers and sisters, probably because their impact is most obvious. As one review of literature notes, studies have shown that older siblings influence everything from their younger siblings’ motor development to their risk of smoking later in life. And although isolated studies have tried to pin down effects that younger siblings have on their older siblings, the influence of baby brothers and sisters remains elusive.

Source: huffingtonpost