Insight: April 7

Tuesday night on SBS, Insight is hosted by Anton Enus who asks if competition and conflict between siblings is a good thing, and whether favouritism can affect this.

Research shows sibling interactions can have a vital role in teaching kids valuable social and life

skills, and in shaping personality and behaviour.

But siblings also routinely get stuck into each other.

Parents may see this rivalry as part and parcel of the sibling experience; however there is a growing body of research that links early sibling aggression with serious ongoing learning and mental health problems.

Are such disputes unavoidable, and do tensions always persist into adulthood?

The program also explores how this plays out in families from a culture where there is a hierarchical or gender preference.

Guests include:

Jen Paull and Melanie Colwell, siblings
Jen: “I’d describe her as a role model to me. I grew up basically wanting everything that she had.”
Melanie: “I don’t think my parents knew how good they had it until they had Jenny.”
Amie Cox

Mum of two boys, on who is her favourite: “Alex. Alex has the smell he’s had since he was born. I sniff him all the time and that’s, there’s some sort of smell connection.”

Nick and Tom Inatey, siblings
Nick: “We’re not the two that are going to go out in the backyard and beat one or the other at sport.”
Tom: “Absolutely.”
Nick: “He’s hopeless at it.”
Tom: “That’s very true.”

Celia Harrison, Mum of twins
“They’ll compete about who’s got the most cereal in a bowl and they’re measuring glasses to make sure someone doesn’t have more milk that the other one.”

“Stephen”
Never assisted his brother when he was charged with a crime and he is now in jail: “I’m Asian there’s kind of a hierarchy where we have to take care of each other. I do feel like I betrayed him.”

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.