Sister

Biological sisters who share many genetic facial features

A sister is a female sibling. Although the term typically refers to the consanguineal relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-consanguineal relationships.[1]

Overview

Two child sisters, circa 1911.
Three sisters, circa 1902.

The term sister comes from Old Norse systir which itself derives from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, both of whom have the same meaning, i.e. sister. Some studies have found that sisters display more traits indicating jealousy around their siblings than their male counterparts, brothers.[2] In some cultures, sisters are afforded a role of being under the protection by male siblings, especially older brothers from issues ranging from bullies or sexual advances by womanizers.[3] In some quarters the term sister has gradually broadened its colloquial meaning to include individuals stipulating kinship.[4] In response, in order to avoid equivocation, some publishers prefer the usage of female sibling over sister.[5] Males with a twin sister, sometimes view her as their female alter ego, or what they would have been like, if they had two X chromosomes.[6]

Sororal relationships

Various studies have shown that an older sister is likely to give a varied gender role to their younger siblings as well as being more likely to develop a close bond with their younger siblings.[7] Older sisters are more likely to play with their younger siblings.[8] Younger siblings display a more needy behavior when in close proximity to their older sister[9] and are more likely to be tolerant of an older sister's bad behavior.[10] Boys with only an older sister are more likely to display stereotypically male behavior, and such masculine boys increased their masculine behavior with the more sisters they have.[11] The reverse is true for young boys with several sisters, as they tend to be feminine, however they outgrow this by the time they approach pubescence.[12] Boys with older sisters were less likely to be delinquent or have emotional and behavioral disorders.[13] A younger sister is less likely to be scolded by older siblings than a younger brother.[14] The most common recreational activity between older brother/younger sister pairs is art drawing.[7] Some studies also found a correlation between having an older sister and constructive discussions about safe sexual practices.[15] Some studies have shown that men without sisters are more likely to be ineffectual at courtship and romantic relationships.[16]

Famous sisters

Fictional works about sisters

Two Sisters by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Films

Literature

Television

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mufwene, Salikoko S. "The pragmatics of kinship terms in Kituba." (1988): 441-454.
  2. ↑ Volling, B. L.; McElwain, N.L.; Miller, A.L. (2002). "Emotion Regulation in Context: The Jealousy Complex between Young Siblings and its Relations with Child and Family Characteristics". Child Development 73 (2): 581–600.
  3. ↑ Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry - Page 67, Wen-Shing Tseng - 2001
  4. ↑ van der Burghe, Pierre (1987). The Ethnic Phenomenon. p. 27.
  5. ↑ Olshewsky, Thomas (1969). Problems in the philosophy of language. p. 286.
  6. ↑ McCallum, Robyn. "Other selves: subjectivity and the doppelganger in Australian adolescent fiction. Example of sister in a sentence "The sisters live in the convent at Lafayette Towers." Writing the Australian child: Texts and contexts in fictions for children (1996): 17-36.
  7. 1 2 Gender - Page 53, Leanne Franklin - 2012
  8. ↑ Play from Birth to Twelve: Contexts, Perspectives, and Meanings, Doris Bergen 2015
  9. ↑ Sisters and Brothers - Page 78, Judy Dunn - 1985
  10. ↑ The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Volume 4, Charles B. Nemeroff, 2002 p 1524
  11. ↑ Gender Development - Page 300, Lynn S. Liben - 2009
  12. ↑ Gender Development, Sheri A. Berenbaum, 2013
  13. ↑ Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Volume 26, p 161, 1996
  14. ↑ He & she: how children develop their sex role identity, Wendy Schempp Matthews - 1979 p 162
  15. ↑ Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, Contextual Influences on Adolescent Development, Laurence Steinberg, PhD - 2009 p 61
  16. ↑ Leventhal, Gerald S. "Influence of brothers and sisters on sex-role behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 16.3 (1970): 452.
  • The dictionary definition of sister at Wiktionary
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