Summary of "Beyond Rivalry"

Elizabeth Stark, in her article "Beyond Rivalry," discussed some factors affecting relationship between siblings. She argued that people may drift apart as they become involved in their own social connections, but eventually will have stronger connection with their siblings in their late lives even though they have rivalry relationship with them in the early stage. The author cited other psychologists' study to pointed out that some critical events might bring siblings together or deepen an existing rift. But no matter what kind of rivalry or hostility between siblings, very few of them had completely broken up with their siblings and become more involved with and interested in their siblings as they age. She also cited psychologist Gold's finding to bring out some emotional issues and specific requirements that make people to increase contact with their siblings. By Cicirelli's study, she found out some factors might affect the contact frequencies between siblings and she pointed out that even though siblings can't get together quite often, they seems to evoke positive feelings based on the images or feelings inside. Although siblings seem to have stronger connections with each other as they age, Cicirelli pointed out that rarely do they call for help or offer instrumental support to each other. For this issue, psychologist Gold pointed out that some physical or psychological factors might cause this phenomenon. In conclusion, the author argued that siblings will find unexpected strengths in this relationship in later life.