A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling.[Mufwene, Salikoko S. "The pragmatics of kinship terms in Kituba." (1988): 441–454.] A full sister is a first-degree relative.
Overview
The
English language word
sister comes from
Old Norse systir which itself derives from
Proto-Germanic *swestēr, both of which 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,
.
[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.] 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.
[Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry — Page 67, Wen-Shing Tseng – 2001] In some quarters, the term
sister has gradually broadened its colloquial meaning to include individuals stipulating
kinship.
In response, in order to avoid equivocation, some publishers prefer the usage of
female sibling over
sister.
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.
[McCallum, Robyn. "Other Selves: subjectivity and the doppelganger in Australian adolescent fiction. Example of the 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.] A study in Perth, Australia found that girls having only youngers brothers resulted in a
chastity effect: losing their
virginity on average more than a year later than average. This has been hypothesized as being attributed to the pheromones in their brothers' sweat and household-related errands.
Sororal relationships
Various studies have shown that older sisters are 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.
[Gender — Page 53, Leanne Franklin – 2012] Older sisters are more likely to play with their younger siblings.
[Play from Birth to Twelve: Contexts, Perspectives, and Meanings, Doris Bergen 2015] Younger siblings display more needy behavior when near their older sister
[Sisters and Brothers — Page 78, Judy Dunn – 1985] and are more likely to be tolerant of an older sister's bad behavior.
[The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Volume 4, Charles B. Nemeroff, 2002 p 1524] Boys with only one older sister are more likely to display stereotypically male behavior, and such
masculine boys increased their masculine behavior with the more sisters they have.
[Gender Development — Page 300, Lynn S. Liben – 2009] 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.
[Gender Development, Sheri A. Berenbaum, 2013] Boys with older sisters were less likely to be delinquent or have emotional and behavioral disorders.
[Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Volume 26, p 161, 1996] A younger sister is less likely to be scolded by older siblings than a younger brother.
[He & she: how children develop their sex role identity, Wendy Schempp Matthews – 1979 p 162] The most common recreational activity between older brother/younger sister pairs is art drawing.
Some studies also found a correlation between having an older sister and constructive discussions about safe sexual practices.
[Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, Contextual Influences on Adolescent Development, Laurence Steinberg, PhD – 2009 p 61] Some studies have shown that men without sisters are more likely to be ineffectual at courtship and romantic relationships.
[Leventhal, Gerald S. "Influence of brothers and sisters on sex-role behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 16.3 (1970): 452.]
See also
External links
