To date, few studies have examined how family-level qualities are related to parents’ differential treatment of siblings. This study explores associations between parents’ marital qualities, i.e. love and conflict, and differences in siblings’ reports of the quality of their parent-adolescent relationships. Data were drawn from 196 families that included mothers, fathers and adolescent-aged siblings, of which firstborn and secondborn siblings were the target youth in this analysis. The assessment occurred at the seventh phase of a longitudinal study on family relationships in middle childhood and adolescence. Results revealed that fathers’ reports of marital conflict were significantly negatively related to youths’ reports of mothers’ differential treatment. No association was found between maternal reports of marital love and conflict, or paternal reports of love and siblings’ reports of parental differential treatment. Discussion draws from a family systems perspective (Minuchin, 1985) and highlights the importance of examining how subsystems within a family are mutually influential (Minuchin, 1985).
