Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: A Qualitative Inquiry of Sibling Achievement in Sport

<p>Author's abstract: Within a family, siblings are fixtures of children's lives (Whiteman, McHale, & Crouter 2007). With this being known, researchers have examined modeling and deidentification behaviors based on sibling interaction and motivation (e.g., Whiteman, McHale, & Crouter 2007; Whiteman & Christiansen, 2008). Moreover, Whiteman et al. (2007) revealed that second-borns' perceptions of influence were positively correlated to siblings' perceptions of intimacy and temporal involvement, but not to perceptions of negativity. Furthermore, sibling similarities were most apparent when younger siblings perceived sibling influence and when their older sibling reported high engagement, competence, and interest in a particular domain. Unfortunately, there has been very little additional research that has examined the role of sibling achievements in sport. Therefore, a gap in the sport psychology research exists concerning this unique relationship between siblings. The current study investigated the experience of younger sibling's use of older siblings' achievements in sport. Through an open-ended phenomenological approach, this study has gained a rich description of the role of sibling achievements in sport. The participants in this study were individuals who had an older sibling, who played the same sport, and who participated at the collegiate level. Participants were categorized into three different groups: younger siblings who play/played the same sport as the elder sibling; younger siblings who participate/participated in a different sport; and younger siblings that do/did not participate in sport. Participant interviews revealed an overall thematic structure of: family influence, social influence, fondness, and identity. Several sub-themes from each of these categories emerged from the data.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Blazo, Jordan A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sarah Carson
• Windy Dees

• ETD
• Sibling achievement
• Sibling dynamics
• Sibling influence
• Family dynamics
• Family influence
• Social influence
• Distinctiveness
• Sport psychology
• Behavioral Disciplines and Activities
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Other Psychiatry and Psychology
• Psychiatry and Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1036

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-2069