WHEN MY SISTER IS SMARTER THAN I : COPING WITH AN APPARENTLY MORE GIFTED SIBLING

Abstract

This academic exercise probes the question of what happens if a child has a sibling who is perceived as more intelligent. Literature on possible factors that shape a person is reviewed, including environmental influences, birth order and having a handicapped sibling. The study then discusses the issue of perceived differences in intelligence, particularly in relation to Tesser's (1980) selfesteem maintenance model; theories of deidentification are also examined. Studies on gifted children and their families are discussed subsequently. A sample of 197 secondary two and three school girls was studied. These children were all from two child families, and were no more than four years apart in age from their siblings. A questionnaire designed for the study was used to collect data. This sought information about the sibling's age and gender; perceived differences in intelligence (including the direction and magnitude of respondents' perceived differences in intelligence); the threat to self-esteem arising from such differences; and parents' perceptions of differential intelligence, as well as whether they compare the children. Threat to self-esteem is inferred from respondents' ratings of similarity to sibling and the closeness and friction in the sibling relationship. Results indicated that half the respondents felt less intelligent than their siblings, and less than a fifth thought they were more intelligent. There was little support for the hypothesis that threat to self-esteem is greater for persons perceiving themselves less intelligent than their siblings. Ratings of similarity, closeness or friction were not associated with perceived differences in intelligence. Threat to self-esteem seemed unrelated to sibling's gender, but may be greater when the supposedly more intelligent individual was a younger sibling. Half the respondents did not know whom their parents considered more intelligent. Academic performance frequently appears the basis for making decisions about intelligence. The limitations of the study, and the implications of the results are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.