Sibling Rivalry Between Male and Female Siblings in Poor Families

Masbate City
Masbate
Sibling Rivalry Between
Male and Female Siblings
in a Context of a
Poor Conjugal Family
Submitted by:
GLENN RIVERA
EDUC 200 – Methods of Research Student
Submitted to:
MRS. ROSARIO M. ROMBLON
EDUC 200 – Methods of Research Professor

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Plagiarism Statement
I, the undersigned do hereby state that this Term Paper, entitled “Sibling Rivalry Between
Male and Female Siblings in a Context of a Poor Conjugal Family,” which I submit to Mrs.
Rosario M. Romblon in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Educ 200 (Methods of
Research), is a purely original work and that no part or portion thereof has been plagiarized from
any existing literature on the subject. It has not been submitted previously for any other assessed
component on this course. All sources of information had been properly acknowledged.
GLENN RIVERA

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Table of Contents
Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………1
Plagiarism Statement...………......................................................................................................2
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………...........3
Chapter I - Introduction…………………………………………………………………………6
Objectives of the Study..................................................................................................................6
Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………..........................7
Central Research Question and Task………………………………………………….....7
Rationale of the Study………………………………………………………………….....8
Significance of the Study………………………………………………………………....8
Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………………………..9
Profile of the Locale of the Study………………………………………………….........11
Spot Map of the Locale of the Study…………………………………………………....12
Background and Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………12
Philippine Society……………………………………………………………………….12
Rural……………………………………………………………………………..12
Rural-agricultural………………………………………………………...13
Rural-industrial…………………………………………………………..13
Rural-service-oriented................................................................................13
Urban……………………………………………………………………….........14
Urban-industrial………………………………………………………….14
Urban-service-oriented……………………………………………..........15
Philippine Social Stratification………………………………………………………...15
Social Classes………………………………………………………………........15
Upper or Capitalist Class………………………………………………...15
Upper Middle Class……………………………………………………...16
Lower Middle Class……………………………………………………...16
Working Class………………………………………………………........16
Lower Class………………………………………………………….......16
Determinants of Social Class…………………………………………………....17
Filipino Family………………………………………………………………………….17
Filipino Family as a Group and Kinship System…………………………........17
Filipino family as a primary group…………………………………........17
Filipino family as bilateral……………………………………………….17
Characteristics of Filipino Marriage……………………………………….......18
Marriage as a religious-legal contract………………………………........18
Marriage as a male-female sexual union………………………………...18
Monogamous…………………………………………………….18

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Polygynous (for Muslims) ……………………………………….18
Marriage as a union of potential parents’ roles………………………….19
Marriage as a public affair……………………………………………….19
Marital Statuses………………………………………………………………....19
Single (Parent)….………………………………………………………..19
Married…………………………………………………………………...19
Legally separated or annulled…………………………………………....19
Widow/Widower………………………………………………………....19
Live-in Partners…………………………………………………………..20
Filipino Family Structures……………………………………………………...20
Nuclear or Conjugal Family………………………………………….…..20
Family of orientation……………………………………….…....20
Family of procreation……………………………………………20
Extended Family…………………………………………………………20
Consanguine family……………………………………………...21
Joint family………………………………………………………21
Stem family………………………………………………..……..21
Housing and Residential Proximity…………………………………….…..…..21
Patrilocal…………………………………………………………...…….21
Matrilocal……………………………………………………...………....21
Bilocal………………………………………………………...………….21
Neolocal…………………………………………………………...……..21
Family Obligations and Activities………………………………………...…….22
Reunion……………………………………………………………...…...22
Sharing of services and gifts…………………………………………......22
Household keeping……………………………………………………….22
Role-Playing in the Traditional Filipino Family……………………………….22
Father as the “Haligi ng Tahanan” or Head of Household………………22
Mother as “Ilaw ng Tahanan” or the caretaker of children’s welfare……23
Children as subordinate family members……………………………......23
Sibling…………………………………………………………………………………...23
Definition of a sibling...........................................................................................23
Sibling types……………………………………………………………………..23
“One-at-a-time” siblings…………………………………………………23
Twins……………………………………………………………………..23
“Multiplets”………………………………………………………………24
Characteristics of Sibling Relationship………………………………………………..24
Co-Sibling Modeling…………………………………………………………….24
Intimate and enduring personal bond…………………………………………..24
Cooperative…………………………………………………………………........25
Competitive………………………………………………………………………25
Chapter II – Review of Related Literature................................................................................26
Sibling Rivalry…………………………………………………………………………...26
Definition of Sibling Rivalry…………………………………………...………..26
Levels of Sibling Rivalry………………………………………………………...27
Kinds of Sibling Rivalry…………………………………………………………27
Characteristics of Each Kind of Sibling Rivalry…..……………………………..28

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Framework........................................................................................................................29
Chapter III - Methodology…….……………………………………………………………….31
Respondents of the Study………………………………………………………………..31
Interview…………………………………………………………………………………31
First Stage: Finding family cases………………………………………………...31
Second Stage: Formulating questions……………………………………………32
Third Stage: Determining the conceptual approaches
to be used in the qualitative analysis of the
data (sibling rivalry instances)…………………………………………...32
Chapter IV – Results, Discussion and Presentation of Data...……………………………....35
Brief description of the families………………………………………………………...35
Sibling rivalry instances………………………………………………………………...35
Family A…………………………………………………………………………35
Family B…………………………………………………………………………36
Family C…………………………………………………………………………36
Chapter V – Summary, Conclusion, Analysis of Data and Recommendation……………..38
Common Findings and Interpretation………………………………………………….38
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………....39
Recommendation..............................................................................................................39
Curriculum Vitae........................................................................................................................41
References………………………………………………………………………………………50

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CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
Objectives of the Study
This paper aims to discuss and define “sibling rivalry”. This general objective involves
two specific goals. One is to situate the behavior (sibling rivalry) in the Philippine social context
and the other is to describe sibling rivalry, specifically, between a pair of male-female siblings
given that these siblings are legitimate children of married parents and that they all form part of
a conjugal family.
In addition, the paper aims to give an account of and explain sibling rivalry instances.
This second major objective includes two specific goals as well. One is to identify particular
sibling rivalry instances that are common among children and the other is to explain these
instances using the structural-institutional, rational choice, and feminist perspectives.
Embedded in the first general objective is the task of giving a brief background of the
Philippine society, the rural and urban settings, and the nature of social class. After looking at the
social context, the researcher would then give a conventional way of describing the Filipino
family, that is, in terms of broad family structures, marital statuses, housing patterns, among
others. It is recognized by sociologist Belen T. G. Medina (2001) that the features of families in
our society are changing and these features are said to reflect the larger changes and processes
that the Philippine society undergoes. These changes serve as the main reason why we can no
longer classify our families into just a single class, structure, marital status of parents, residential
pattern, among others. Now, when we narrow down on the basic family structure, which is the
conjugal family of orientation, we can identify three types of personal family relationships
(Eshleman, 1991; Medina, 2001: 17-18): first, the relationship between the husband and the wife;
second, the relationship between the parents and their children; and third, the relationship
between or among the children or siblings if the family has two or more children. The last type

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of family relationship is the specific context of the behavior that I (the “researcher”) want to
study up on, that is, sibling rivalry. Sibling relationship has four obvious and overlapping
characteristics (Beer 1989; Hapworth 1993). First, there is modeling among siblings as seen
when a younger sibling looks up to his/her older sibling and tries to imitate him/her. Second,
sibling relationship is intimate and enduring. Third, cooperation is a basic feature of a sibling
relationship and of family and social relationships as a whole. From a functionalist perspective,
cooperation is regarded as a necessary ingredient of family growth and development. Lastly, if
there is cooperation then the flipside of it is also present. It is the opposite of cooperation, that is,
competition. Competition is a borrowed term from the rational choice perspective, which is one
of the pillars of the economics discipline. When we say competition, we are talking about the
contention of two or more persons for the same object or resource. Among siblings this is
manifested through what is referred to as sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry is basically a competitive
behavior among siblings. In fact the term rivalry is considered as synonymous with the term
competition by many dictionaries such as the Webster encyclopedic edition. I categorized the
sibling rivalry characteristics identified by authors (such as Beer, 1989; Cohen, 1989; and
Hapworth et al., 1993) focusing on sibling rivalry into two levels – violent and nonviolent and
two kinds – competition for tangible family resources and competition for intangible family
resources.
Statement of the Problem
Central Research Question and Task
The central research question that the study aims to answer or, at least, develops a way of
answering is “what is sibling rivalry?” The researcher recognizes that in the literature on sibling
rivalry, psychological studies predominate. However, the researcher wants to do a sociological
study in trying to answer the central question. He therefore prefers to rely on sociological works

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especially works that were pursued by Filipino scholars. Unfortunately, the researcher cannot
find any article about the topic that was systematically written or published by Filipino authors.
The most related and developed social psychological work that is currently available and
accessible is that by William Beer (1989). Although his work deals primarily with “stepsibling
rivalry”, it provides sufficient information about full-sibling rivalry, which the researcher seeks
to describe. Full-sibling rivalry or simply sibling rivalry is described as a competitive behavior
among siblings who are related by blood and who have two (or at least one) common parents (or
parent) (Beer, 1989; Cohen, 1989; and Hapworth et al, 1993). Usually employed as a conflictual
family story theme, this behavior inspired many films, novels, as well as mythological accounts.
Nowadays, it is generally thought of as an “inevitable” aspect of sibling relationships (see for
example Cohen, 1989 and various online sites and documents). Some works like those of Cohen
and Hapworth provide insights as to how the behavior can be managed or prevented. The
researcher, however, only wants to describe sibling rivalry as systematically as he can based on
the works of scholars and his findings and tries to avoid any normative or “common sense” bias
in studying the behavior.
Rationale of the Study
The study aims to tackle the competitive behavior of siblings known as sibling rivalry.
The researcher wants to impart his research findings and personal interpretations about the
behavior, to give a clear and coherent definition of the behavior drawn from various sources and
to offer parents and siblings a simple understanding of this longstanding problem.
Significance of the Study
So far, the study is set out to contribute a small amount of information to the knowledge
base of sociology of the Filipino family. The author maintains that this study provides a barebone
roadmap on how to approach the sensitive issue of rivalry among Filipino siblings. In spite of

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this enthusiasm, he still believes that this study is lacking because of time, technical, financial
and academic constraints.
Limitations of the Study
The study deals principally with describing sibling rivalry by using a working definition
of it that is derived from various sources that the researcher has accessed via the University of
the Philippines library web OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog). The definition of sibling
rivalry is not a complete one because the researcher aims to apply it to just the competition
between a male-female pair of siblings. The specific family structure that the researcher has
identified as the context of sibling rivalry and sibling relationship is the conjugal family so to
avoid a loss of conceptual and empirical focus since there are other family forms. The family is
chosen from a community in rural area since the author currently resides and pursues this
research enterprise in Masbate, which is considered as a rural area. The term paper topic also
talks about the condition of the community – one that is regarded and observed as relatively
“poor” when compared to other communities of Masbate. For further clarification, the researcher
does not intend to explain why the community is poor. He just wants to situate the family in that
context. The community that the researcher has chosen is located in Barangay Balocawe,
Dimasalang, Masbate. The discussion on Philippine social classes appears to be irrelevant since
what the researcher wants to describe is the condition of the community and not that of the
family as “poor”. So, why include a section that is concerned with social classes in the
Philippines? The reason is that the researcher wants to discuss the status of the family in the area
because it is necessary that he first describe the family. Fulfilling the task of giving a background
of the Philippine society and family, the researcher does not desire to give a description of just a
single class since there are other classes. Despite this consideration, the study is still not
thorough enough when it comes to explaining all social classes. It only presents the classes in
terms of the qualitative association among income, educational attainment, housing type, and

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other factors as recognized by government statisticians from the National Statistical
Coordination Board (NSCB). From these classes, the researcher picked three families, whose
members or at least one member belongs to the working class, that would serve as his cases.
However, he does not purport that these families’ members acknowledge that they belong to the
class but he just ranked them according to the qualitative association, which will be discussed
later in this paper, among the determinants/indicators of being in a working class. In addition, the
discussion on the rural-urban divide is not sufficient a description of Philippine society as a
whole since there are other ways of describing a society in terms of broad categories, for
example in terms of social institutions. The reason why the author identified the distinction
between the rural and urban areas is that the term paper title necessitates such a distinction.
Furthermore, when it is taken together with the discussion on social classes, the paper
emphasizes the importance of locating the context and source of most family resources,
especially the tangible ones, since the rural areas do not have a luxury of resources as well as
facilities relative to the urban areas. These resources and facilities are becoming more limited
and contested due to the growing number of people in the rural areas who demand for them. For
instance, the working class families that the author has identified as his study cases live with few
resources that are to be distributed among their members. The evident distribution of and
apparent competition for family resources by family members, more specifically by siblings, are
basically what the researcher wants to observe. In line with this, the discussion on siblings’
competition for intangible family resources is given less importance by the researcher since this
requires the consideration of psychological dimensions such as beliefs and intentions, which
constrain a sociological approach to a readily observable behavior. Nevertheless, the competition
for intangible family resources is recognized by researchers such as Beer, Cohen, Eshleman, and
Hapworth (et. al) as part of sibling rivalry.

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Profile of the Locale of the Study
CBMS STATISTICS: Barangay Balocawe, Dimasalang, Masbate
Source of Reference Year 2013
Household 147
Population
Male
Female
2,213
1,189
1,024
Name of Puroks
1. Mahogany 5. Epil-Epil
2. Malobago 6. Gemelina
3. Pajo 7. Narra
4. Mangrove
Educational Attainment
Kindergarten 81
Elementary Graduate 572
High School Graduate 25
First Year College 13
Second Year College 8
Third Year College 1
Fourth Year College or Higher 1
College Graduate 5
Total Number of Pre-Schoolers
Normal 181
Underweight 65
Severely Underweight 26
Overweight 1
Total Weighed 273
Total Number of School Children
Normal 477
Severely Wasted 13
Wasted 73
Overweight 8
Obese 1
Total Weighed 572
Registered Voter
Yes 921
No 420
Total 1,341
Literacy Indicator
Literate 1,716
Illiterate 16

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Spot Map of the Locale of the Study
Background and Definition of Terms
Philippine Society
Rural
For the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), a rural area is an area located
outside the major cities and urban centers where the population per barangay is less than five-
thousand (5000). It is also an area where every five establishments per barangay, if it has,
accommodate less than 10 employees or if there is only one establishment, that establishment
accommodates less than 100 employees.

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Rural-Agricultural
Most agricultural lands in the Philippines are located in rural areas where only five (5)
percent of families owns eighty-three (83) percent of agricultural lands.1
Agricultural areas are
areas that are suitable for crop farming, raising of livestock and poultry and fishpond farming
(Salita, 1995). According to Domingo Salita (1995), about forty-five (45) percent of the
country’s land is arable and supports the livelihood of seventy (70) percent of the entire
population as of 1992. Thirty-six (36) percent of our workforce is engaged in agricultural works
as of 2006 according to the United States Department of State.
Rural-Industrial
Industries, which are concerned with manufacturing or production of goods from raw
materials with the use of machines, are distributed between rural and urban areas. Rural
industries focus on the conversion of agricultural and extracted products like fruits, crops,
minerals, wood, rocks among others into different finished materials such as medicines and
furniture. Fishing, mining, cement manufacturing, furniture-making, and food processing are the
country’s important industries most of which are operated in rural areas where the raw materials
are readily available.
Rural-Service-Oriented
Retailing, merchandising, tourism, resort amenities are among the many observable
services that people in the rural areas provide. Tourist attractions and resorts have encouraged
the inhabitants of rural areas to take advantage of the flow of local and foreign tourists and use
their locale’s unexploited natural sites to earn a living.
1
This information was taken from the researcher’s Political Science 14 (Under Professor Gene Pilapil) lecture notes.
The numbers were determined by James Putzel, a London School of Economics professor, when he pursued a study
regarding land reforms and poverty alleviation programs here in the Philippines.

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Urban
NSCB’s definition of an urban area is an area where the population per barangay is five
thousand (5000) or more, which has at least one establishment with a minimum of one-hundred
(100) employees or has five (5) or more establishments with a minimum of ten (10) employees
and five (5) or more facilities within the two-kilometer radius from the barangay hall. All
barangays in the National Capital Region (NCR) are automatically classified as urban. Most
highly urbanized cities are also considered urban areas. Most of the land in these areas is not
used for agricultural purposes because of relatively high population density. More land is
becoming occupied by people and serve either as residential areas or land-intensive business
sites, especially industries and service provision. Economists believe that there are high
opportunity costs when the lands in urban areas are used for agricultural purposes because of the
high demand for and value of urban lands, and more productivity requirements of farming and
animal-raising.2
Urban-Industrial
It is common knowledge that most industries are concentrated in the National Capital
Region where industrial parks and business districts are located. The industry’s share of the
Philippines’ workforce is fifteen (15) percent as of 2006 according to the U.S. Department of
State’s profiling of the Philippine economy and is distributed between rural and urban industries.
The country’s most important urban industries include textiles and garments production,
pharmaceuticals, chemical processing, steel and metal production, food processing especially
“junk food”, car assembly, electronics and beverage processing (Salita, 1995).
2
For instance, during a series of Economics 100.1 lectures, Professor Solita Monsod talked about the opportunity
costs (or opportunities forgone) of maintaining a farmland in areas near Metro Manila due to the high business
demand for land, frequency of typhoons, fertilizer use, as well as water shortages.

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Urban-Service-Oriented
Urban areas are places for different kinds of service providers that take advantage of a
huge population and faster circulation of money. The services they offer range from
transportation to call center and telecommunication services. Fast-food chains are also becoming
more common in the cities as well as medical and health services; hotel, apartment, boarding
house and other forms of rentals; repair shops for different gadgets and appliances; banking,
money changing and transfer services; software services, business process outsourcing;
transcriptions; government or bureaucratic services; retailing; private education; recreational
parks among many others.
Philippine Social Stratification3
Social Classes
Upper or Capitalist Class (Class AB)
People who belong to this class are those (1) who live in exclusive subdivisions, town
houses and condominiums; (2) whose houses are made of high quality materials, well painted
inside and out; (3) who are highly-skilled professionals, managers and medium-size business
people; (4) who are graduates of exclusive colleges or private universities; and (5) who have
more than ten household facilities with a new car (five years or less); and (6) whose household
incomes (per month) are equal to or greater than Php 50,001.
3
For this section, the researcher will be using a modified version of Philippine Marketing and Opinion Research
Association’s (a.k.a. MORES) socioeconomic classification scheme, which is used by some NSCB researchers and
various members of the academe. The researcher is responsible for the assignment of academic class models/labels
to each MORES category: for instance the working class label has been equated with the MORES’ Class D. This
was also what a Political Science professor did when he discussed the Philippine social classes. The scheme can be
found in the PDF article “Trends and Characteristics of the Middle-Income Class in the Philippines: Is it Expanding
or Shrinking?” by Romulo A. Virola, Mildred B. Addawe and Ma. Ivy T. Querubin (2007).

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Upper Middle Class (Class C1)
People who belong to this class are those (1) who live in mixed-neighborhood areas with
predominantly large houses; (2) whose houses are made of good quality materials, well-painted
but need some minor repairs; (3) whose occupations are inclined to supervisory and running
small businesses; (4) who are graduates of non-exclusive/state colleges; (5) who have eight to ten
household facilities, with a car; and (6) whose household incomes range from Php 30,001 to Php
50,000.
Lower Middle Class (Class C2)
People who belong to this class are those (1) who live in mixed-neighborhood areas of
large and small houses; (2) whose houses are made of heavy materials, painted but may need
some repairs; (3) who are white collar or salaried workers; (4) who were able to make it to
college but did not finish it; (5) who own five to seven household facilities, with or without a car;
and (6) whose household incomes range from Php 15,001 to Php 30,000.
Working Class (Class D)
People who belong to this class are those (1) who live in mixed-neighborhood areas with
predominantly small houses; (2) whose houses are made of light and cheap materials and poorly
constructed, generally unpainted and in need of major repairs; (3) who are blue collar workers or
manual laborers; (4) who were able to reach only some high school levels; (5) who own two to
four household facilities; and (6) whose household incomes range from Php 8,001 to Php 15,000.
Lower Class (Class E)
People who belong to this class are those (1) who live in generally slum district, who are
virtually or actually homeless; (2) whose houses, if they have, are temporarily structured (also
known as “barong barong”, unpainted and dilapidated; (3) who are unskilled laborers and rarely
employed or not at all; (4) who obtained some elementary school education; (5) who own no or

17
at most one facility; (6) whose household or personal incomes are equal to or less than Php
8,000.
Determinants of Social Class
The determinants or correlates of social class include people’s occupations or positions in
the state or economy, educational attainment and qualifications, income (personal, household and
per capita), wealth or net worth, costume or grooming as well as their house’s make-up and
location. Social classes identified herein are objective rankings and/or models, classified based
on the given correlates, that signify socioeconomic, hierarchical distribution of resources and
values. These classes do not necessarily represent a formal institutional existence, such as
religious affiliations, that directly or explicitly define membership criteria.
Filipino Family
Filipino Family as a Group and Kinship System
Filipino family as a primary group
Filipino families, especially the conjugal families, are primary groups in that they consist
of a small number of people who interact in personal, direct and intimate ways such as face-to-
face and daily contacts. They are characterized by intensive, positive and negative emotional ties
and a strong, enduring sense of commitment.4
Filipino family as bilateral
A bilateral Filipino family is a system of descent wherein lineage is traced through both
parents’ lines. It is also a system where power and property are transferred through both the
mother’s and the father’s line to both males and females. A key exception to this pattern is in
surnames, where both sexes assume the surname of their father and take the surname of their
4
Medina (2001) talks about the general traits of Filipino families and identifies certain primary group characteristics
of these families all throughout her book. Personal experiences by the author and the previous class discussions can
also confirm that this is generally the case.

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mother as their middle name. Furthermore, when a female marries, she usually takes the surname
of her husband.
Characteristics of Filipino Marriage
Marriage as a religious-legal contract
Since most Filipinos (about 90 percent5
) are Christians, marriage is done in a church or
other religious premises. A church wedding has been a common goal of couples who want to
form a family. A legal or civil wedding done with the supervision of a court judge or
municipal/city mayor only serves either as a cheaper alternative or as a prelude to a more formal
religious wedding ritual. Nevertheless, both set formal or legal requirements such as a marriage
contract.
Marriage as a male-female sexual union
Obviously, in the Philippines, the widely accepted mode of marriage is between a man
and a woman. It is of two sorts:
Monogamous
Monogamy is a legally-dominant type of heterosexual union in the country involving one
male and one female at a time.
Polygynous (for Muslims)
Polygyny is still a common practice among Muslim Filipinos, especially those who
belong to the upper or royal classes. The late Congressman Wahab Akbar for example had three
wives at a time.
5
The number comes from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines). The percentage is close to the
academic estimates that confirm the observation that the majority of Filipinos call themselves Christians who either
belong to the Roman Catholic Church or the Protestant denominations.

19
Marriage as a union of potential parents’ roles
Marriage is the start of what structuralists and feminists call “role-playing” in the family
where a potential father would act as a breadwinner and a potential mother would act as a “child-
bearer” and “child-rearer” at the same time.
Marriage as a public affair
This “marriage as a public affair” phrase basically revolves around the concept of
wedding “reception”. Reception is not only an act of entertaining guests who attend a wedding
ceremony but it is also a way of letting other people know of the fact that two persons are
entering into a supposed to be life-long relationship.
Marital Statuses
Single (Parent)
The term ‘single’ does not only refer to a person (male or female) who is both unmarried
and childless. It also came to be accepted, especially within the informal peers of the show
business, as a shorthand term for a person (male or female) who never married but has a child or
children. Many teenage mothers bring up their child or children single-handedly once their
partners abandon them.
Married
Married couples are of two kinds, the civil- or legally-wed, and the church-wed.
Legally separated or annulled
This status is attained by undergoing either a court procedure of legal separation or a
more complex process of nullifying a marriage (contract) known as annulment.
Widow/Widower
A widow is a woman who has lost her husband by death and has not married again. A
widower is a man whose wife is dead and who has not remarried.

20
Live-in Partners
Live-in partners are engaged in cohabitation, a relationship that is not based on marriage
but on personal commitments of bringing up a family even without the institution of marriage or
when marriage is not granted.
Filipino Family Structures
Nuclear or Conjugal Family
A nuclear or conjugal family usually lives in a single house and includes the husband,
wife, and their immediate children (Eshleman, 1991; Medina, 2001). Although the two terms can
be used interchangeably, Eshleman (1991) observes that they are different in terms of
membership. According to him, a conjugal family includes a husband and a wife while a nuclear
family may or may not include the married couple but consists of two or more persons related to
each other by blood, marriage, or adoption as long as they are of the same generation.
Family of orientation
This is a family where someone is born and reared and which comprises him/her, his/her
siblings, and parents (Eshleman, 1989; Medina, 2001).
Family of procreation
This is a family which is formed when a person marries and brings up his or her own
children and is composed of himself/herself, his/her spouse and children (Eshleman, 1989;
Medina, 2001).
Extended Family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear or conjugal family and
may consist of multiple numbers of nuclear or conjugal families (Ibid.). Three forms exist as per
Eshleman (1991: 90-91) that may or may not apply in the Philippines. Nevertheless, they are
worthy of recognition.

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Consanguine family
It refers to the joining of nuclear families based on blood relationships or descent from
the same ancestors so that several generations of progenies live together as a single family unit.
Joint family
It is composed of two or more families of procreation. Usually, it is the males who take
their wives to live with them in their parents’ house. Due to lack of land or houses, including the
household facilities, property is being held in common in this kind of extended family. The
members of the original family of orientation and their partners are related by marital union.
Stem family
In Masbate, the researcher’s province, this kind of extended family is common. It is an
extended family where a son or a daughter, usually the oldest, takes care of his or her elderly
parents even after his or her marriage. The family is composed of the elderly parents and the new
family of their son or daughter.
Housing and Residential Proximity (Eshleman, 1991; Medina, 2001)
Patrilocal
It is a pattern in which a bride/wife changes residence and lives with the parents of her
groom/husband.
Matrilocal
In this pattern, the newlywed couple lives with the parents of the bride.
Bilocal
In this pattern, the couple lives near the parents of either spouse.
Neolocal
In this pattern, the couple lives in a home of their own that is near neither to the wife’s
parents nor to the husband’s parents.

22
Family Obligations and Activities
Reunion
A reunion is the most common and the biggest, in terms of attendees, of family functions
or gatherings especially for large clans, which maintain good or harmonious kin relations. A
reunion, especially in Masbate, is usually based on descent from a common ancestor or ancestral
family. A family who belongs to a clan can engage in more than one reunion in a year. The
researcher’s family for instance attends at least three reunions every year.
Sharing of services and gifts
Sharing of services and gifts is a practice that is common among relatives, Masbateños in
particular, who are neighbors. It is oftentimes done during special occasions like Christmas and
New Year celebrations.
Household keeping
Household keeping is inevitable in a family, which is either isolated or extended.
Members are tasked to accomplish certain household chores. A housemaid or “kasambahay” is
sought only when the family members could no longer perform their tasks or when they prefer
not to perform those tasks at all.
Role-Playing in the Traditional Filipino Family
“In most traditional societies, husband/wife roles follow the usual gender line of
specialization…” (Medina, 2001: 140). Furthermore, “[majority] of Filipino couples especially
in the rural areas, still generally follow the traditional division of labor or task allocation, with
the husband as the breadwinner and the wife as the domestic” (Ibid.: 142).
Father as the “Haligi ng Tahanan” or Head of Household
Husbands are expected to be responsible for supporting the family through their
livelihood preoccupations (Medina, 2001: 140). He also serves as a symbolic household head
who is in charge of the community or external affairs of the family.

23
Mother as “Ilaw ng Tahanan” or the caretaker of children’s welfare
Wives or mothers are expected to perform the role of housekeeper, cook, laundress,
seamstress, and nursemaid (Medina, 2001).
Children as subordinate family members
The husband and wife roles are passed on from generations to generations through what
Medina (2001) referred to as “cultural conditioning” and “gender socialization”. Children are
expected to learn and acquire the roles of their parents: the sons or “binatilyos participate in
many affairs of the community with more freedom, tolerance and understanding from their
parents, while [the daughters or] the dalagitas generally stay at home to take care of the siblings”
and “other work activities connected with the upkeep of the house” (Medina, 2001: 143).
Sibling
Definition of a sibling
A sibling is a child who has, at least, one brother, sister, or both as long as they are blood-
related. Siblings, recently referred to as “full-siblings”, are distinct from stepsiblings and half-
siblings.
Sibling types
“One-at-a-time” siblings
“One-at-a-time” siblings are those children who have fixed intervals or gaps in between
their ages. The eldest child for example may be a 19-year old daughter and the youngest, a 13-
year old son.
Twins
Twins are children who were produced at the same time, time in terms of an hour or
longer, by a single mother.

24
“Multiplets”
“Multiplets” refer to triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets, and so forth who
consist of multiple offspring produced at the same time, time in terms of an hour or longer, by a
single mother.
Characteristics of Sibling Relationship
Relative to other aspects of the family, sibling relations is given far less concern by the
scholars who specialize in family studies. William Beer (1989, p. 15) even observes,
“[surprisingly], in the immense body of literature on family relations, only a tiny amount focuses
on relations between siblings. Yet anyone who has lived in a family in which there are siblings
knows that a great deal of what goes on in the family takes place between youngsters, and
parents may only be dimly aware of some dramas being played out in the home.” In the
Philippines, the latest edition (2001) of Belen Medina’s book, titled “The Filipino Family”,
devoted one paragraph to the discussion on sibling relations (page 18). Nevertheless, the work
provides enormous insights on the roles of Filipino children when they are taken individually.
Sibling relationship has four obvious and overlapping characteristics to which the researcher can
relate. At least one characteristic is described in the works of Beer (1989), Cohen (1989),
Eshleman (1991), Hapworth, et. al. (1993), and Medina (2001).
Co-Sibling Modeling
First, there is modeling among siblings as seen when a younger sibling looks up to his/her
older sibling and tries to imitate him/her. Beer (1989: 37) recognizes “identification” as the
larger process through which the youngsters define themselves by adopting traits of other people.
Intimate and enduring personal bond
Second, sibling relationship is intimate and enduring. It is intimate basically because
during their childhood and teenage years, siblings are bound to stay in a single house where face-

25
to-face and daily contacts are inevitable. It is enduring not only in terms of the period within
which the siblings are together but also in terms of the norms that govern it like the ‘once-a-
sibling-always-a-sibling’ norm. It means that (1) even when your sibling does anything wrong,
against you, your parents, or other people; (2) even when your parents broke up; or (3) whether
you like him/her or not, you are still obliged to accept him/her as a sibling and this acceptance
usually lasts forever.
Cooperative
Third, cooperation is a basic feature of sibling relations and of family and social relations
as a whole. From a functionalist perspective, cooperation is regarded as a necessary ingredient of
family growth and development. Beer (1989) prefers to use the term “sibling solidarity”, which
serves as the positive flipside of sibling rivalry, when dealing with the more friendly and
harmonious aspect of sibling relations.
Competitive
Lastly, if there is cooperation then the backside of it is also present. It is the opposite of
cooperation, which is competition. Competition is a borrowed term from the rational choice
perspective, which is one of the pillars of the economics discipline. When we say competition,
we are talking about the contention of two or more persons for the same object or resource.
Among siblings, this manifests through what is referred to as “sibling rivalry”.

26
CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Sibling Rivalry
Definition of Sibling Rivalry
Sibling rivalry is in essence a competitive behavior among siblings. It is a common
feature of sibling relations. “Rivalry between siblings begins as soon as a new child arrives on
the scene” (Beer, 1989: xii). William Beer even argues that this “competition between brothers
and sisters is as ancient as the human family” (Beer, 1989: 28). Moreover, it is a “gigantic zero-
sum game in which one side’s gain is the other side’s loss” (Ibid.: 29). However, this rationalist
conception has not always been the case because some scholars like Hapworth (et. al, 1993),
Eshleman (1991) and even Beer (1989) himself have started to look at the implications of gender
roles and differences, age differences, psychological stages, among others, on sibling rivalry.
Up to this point, the researcher believes that sibling rivalry, and the sibling subsystem in
general, is a neglected dimension in the sociology of family for the main reason that even the
basic introductory books on Sociology have not devoted yet an entire section, or at least a
considerable number of pages on this subject. For instance, in Richard Appelbaum’s (1995),
Anthony Giddens’s (1997) and John Macionis’s (1997) specific editions of books of the same
title, Sociology, one cannot find an entire section on sibling relations in the chapter that focuses
on the family. Even Eshleman’s introductory book on the sociological study of the family,
specifically the sixth edition, offered only five interrelated paragraphs describing two aspects of
sibling relations that the researcher basically needs: sibling violence/abuse and sibling rivalry.
This apparent lack in attention to siblinghood is confirmed on the “Birth order and sibling
relationships” subsection of the book where Eshleman himself acknowledges that “[the] role and
significance of siblings is often underrepresented in family textbooks” (Eshleman, 1991: 412).

27
Levels of Sibling Rivalry
Sibling rivalry can be seen as either violent or non-violent. The violent or “physical”
sibling rivalry instances are usually relegated to the realm of “sibling abuse and violence”. It is
also sex-typed. “It appears that although male sibling pairs outdo female sibling pairs in
throwing things, pushing, and hitting, the greatest amount of physical violence occurs between
boy-girl pairs” (Eshleman, 1991, p. 508). Non-violent forms, which are manifested through the
human emotions and manner of talking, include non-physical harms or assaults such as shouting,
cursing, frowning, sulking and showing envy or jealousy (Beer, 1989; Cohen, 1989; Hapworth
et. al., 1993). “Supposedly, each sibling resents something the other has” (Eshleman, 1991: 508).
Kinds of Sibling Rivalry
To fulfill the difficult yet equally rewarding task of outlining, the researcher deliberately
categorized the sibling rivalry instances that his sources have identified into two categories or
kinds. Sibling rivalry instances thus fall under either the competition for tangible family
resources or the competition for intangible family resources. The former revolves around family
resources such as household appliances; food and beverages; rooms and other spaces inside and
outside the house; and money, monetary and financial support or insurance. This list is not
inclusive of all tangible family resources but in terms of necessity, these are the basic, which are
of most important concern to families, especially to those who dwell on poor communities with
limited supply of these resources. The second category revolves around intangible, and not easily
ascertainable, resources such as parental love and attention; prestige and honor; enjoyable
activities and tasks; and benefits and services. This kind of sibling rivalry is given less attention
by the researcher since as mentioned above this involves psychological elements, which may
constrain a sociological approach to a readily observable behavior. Nevertheless, it is observed
by scholars as well as ordinary people. The researcher in fact has managed to identify some

28
sibling rivalry instances that revolve around enjoyable activities or tasks because these intangible
objects were directly mentioned by the subjects or interviewees of this research. Eshleman
(1991) even writes, “[siblings] compete in avoiding undesirable tasks or chores: dishes, cleaning
rooms, sweeping walks, etc.” (page 508). The division of labor in the family is indeed a center of
sibling rivalry.
Characteristics of Each Kind of Sibling Rivalry
Both kinds of sibling rivalry have three common characteristics: (a) there is value-
maximizing by the siblings and it can be either (b) violent or (c) non-violent (described above as
the levels of sibling rivalry). Value-maximizing by siblings is evident in Beer’s depiction of
sibling rivalry as a “gigantic zero-sum game in which one side’s gain is the other side’s loss”
(Beer, 1989: 29). In addition, this feature becomes a given when one is arguing either from a
rational choice perspective or from a social exchange frame of reference.6
A fourth characteristic
for each kind of sibling rivalry can be acknowledged when the researcher considers the formal
house rules (if a family has these), the duration, and the occurrence of sibling rivalry.
Accordingly, competition for tangible family resources is not governed by formal house rules,
formal in terms of written directions that emanate from parental authority. It is therefore unruly
from the researcher’s point-of-view because he has not seen hitherto any home, which has its
own set of formal rules governing the members’ behaviors that can be compared with a country’s
constitution. Although there are norms, such as the incest taboo, these norms cannot be referred
to as “formal or written” family rules. Furthermore, when considering the occurrence of sibling
rivalry, the competition for tangible family resources is patterned in terms of age and sex most
especially. For example, as what the researcher’s data would later suggest, the eldest female
sibling easily encounters a conflict with her younger brother as regards the use or consumption
6
The two approaches are described in the third section of this paper, that is, the methodology.

29
of tangible resources that from a feminist perspective is due to the differing gender roles and
expectations.
The second kind of sibling rivalry differs from the first in that this competition revolves
around intangible objects which have no definite and directly noticeable distributive qualities or
functions. These qualities are evident in material resources because they can be shared or
distributed in quantities or time but in intangible resources such as parental love and attention,
these qualities, if at all they manifest, cannot easily be assessed. William Beer (1989) talks about
how “intractable” or tacit the pervasiveness of sibling rivalry is. In addition, he strongly believes
that it revolves solely around the competition for parental love and argues that “[children’s]
insistence about absolute equality in distribution of foods, gifts, parental time, money, space, and
dozens of other prized items all revolve around their being symbols of love” (Beer, 1989; 29). In
this case, the researcher resolves that the fourth feature of the competition for at least one
intangible family resource is its tacitness. Furthermore, in terms of duration, Beer (1989) argues
that this competition begins and is “most acute in childhood, when the familial arena is the most
important sphere to a child” but “rivalry between siblings does not vanish as soon as a person has
grown to maturity and left the home” for the “memory of early struggles remains and both
mythology and literature are full of the themes of competition between siblings in later life”
(Beer, 1989: 30). This line of argument supports the researcher’s idea that the competition for
intangible family resources, most especially for parental love, operates in the long-term.
Framework
The researcher aims to establish a relationship between gender (or the social state of
being a male or female) and sibling rivalry. Specifically, it is theorized that male-female sibling
pairs exhibit a more explicit level of sibling rivalry than do siblings with the same gender. It is

30
also considered that male and female siblings fight over material and non-material resources
available in their households and that this kind of interaction can be either violent or non-violent.
Gender Sibling Rivalry
Male
Female Non-violent
Violent
Material and Non-
Material
Resources

31
CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY
Respondents of the study
Since the study focuses on the rivalry between a male and a female sibling, the
respondents selected for this study are pairs of male-female, “one-at-a-time” siblings. To avoid
discomfort or uneasiness between the two siblings of each pair, the researcher has chosen to
interview only one of them, without the other one roaming around the ‘hot seat’. In the first
family case, Family A, the interviewee was the younger of the two subjects – a 13-year old boy.
In the second family case, Family B, the interviewee was the older of the two subjects – a 16-
year old girl. It so happened that in the third family case, the two subjects were not around.
Getting conscious about the schedule, the researcher decided to interview the youngest brother of
the two teenager subjects. The responses were similar even though it is clear that three points-of-
view were considered.
Interview
The researcher employed one qualitative method of obtaining data: an interview. It
involved three stages.
First Stage: Finding family cases
The researcher selected Barangay Balocawe as the locale of the study because it where he
currently works as a teacher. He looked for potential and willing subjects of the study. Three
families were qualified since each of them fit the criteria of (i) being in the working class; (ii)
having a pair of male-female siblings; and (iii) being a conjugal or nuclear family.

32
Second Stage: Formulating questions
The questions were derived from the definition and operationalization of sibling rivalry.
The questions consist of three yes-or-no questions and an indefinite number of open-ended
questions (indefinite because it became inevitable to ask follow-up questions that are not integral
in the interview guide). The yes-or-no questions were the following: (i) Do you know what
sibling rivalry is?; (ii) Do you want to discuss it with me?; and (iii) Do your parents allow you to
talk about it with me? All the subjects answered “yes” to these questions. The open-ended
questions were aimed at knowing (i) whether the male-female sibling pair manifests the violent
level or the non-violent level of sibling rivalry and (ii) whether the siblings compete for tangible
family resources or for intangible family resources. The questions were translated in Filipino,
Tagalog in particular, to avoid confusion because the interviewees and even their mothers who
were present at the time of the interview were not familiar with the English term “sibling
rivalry”. The researcher does not know an exact Filipino word or phrase that is equivalent to the
English term so he tried to describe it using two or more Tagalog sentences. This was the
beginning of the researcher’s problem as regards the interview since he had to do a lot of
translation and knows for himself that he is not a well-trained translator of English and Visayan
or Minasbate terms. Luckily, the answers to the questions were clear and easily translatable so
the researcher then proceeded to the third and final stage.
Third Stage: Determining the conceptual approaches to be used in the qualitative analysis
of the data (the sibling rivalry instances)
The last stage entails the initial interpretation of the responses. Since the researcher is
required to do a qualitative analysis of sibling rivalry instances, he just relied on a combination

33
of conceptual perspectives that he thinks are applicable to approaching the behavior.7
He shall
give an overview of these perspectives one by one. The first is the rational choice perspective,
which is extensively used in economics and, to a limited degree, in political economy and
political science. It specializes in the study of competitive behavior between groups of people
such as political parties, business firms, and interest groups (Heywood, 2002: 15-16) and
individuals such as political candidates and voters. The researcher thinks that it is more
appropriate to use than the larger conflict perspective because competition is distinct from
conflict per se since competition directly involves “objects” of contention that are also known as
resources, values or benefits and entails value-maximization.8
In the context of the family,
competition by siblings, when viewed from the rational choice perspective, centers on family
resources, tangible or intangible. The second perspective is the institutional-structural
perspective, which is distinct from the pure structuralist perspective and Talcott Parsons’
structural-functional framework described by Medina (2001: 4-5). This is not a legitimate or pure
sociological approach because the researcher wanted it to be a mixed one, combining the
structural description and the institutional formation of the Filipino family. The structural
description involves the classification of the Filipino family into nuclear and extended structures,
the role-playing in the traditional Filipino family, the housing and residential proximity or
patterns and the characteristics of the family as a group and kinship system. The institutional
formation deals with the institution of marriage, the marital status of parents, and the select
obligations and activities (not necessarily ‘functions’) of the family as a major social institution.
These are all included in the background presented in the previous pages. The section on siblings
and sibling relationships is owed by the author to the structural-functional perspective which
7
These approaches were not consciously, if at all, employed by scholars, Beer (1989) in particular, to the analysis of
sibling rivalry. The researcher hopes that his attempt to employ these perspectives will provide some justifications
for their utility in describing sibling rivalry.
8
The “social exchange frame of reference” (Medina, 2001: 5-6; Eshleman, 1991: 61-63) seems to have an
intellectual affinity with this approach in that it also talks about the maximization of rewards and/or minimization of
costs in times of competition.

34
“views the family as a system in itself within which are several subsystems such as the husband-
wife, the parent-child, and the sibling subsystems” (Medina, 2001: 4). However, this section is
confined solely to the discussion on sibling relationship for should the researcher include the
other subsystems, he might arrive at a too extensive discussion. The third and last perspective is
the feminist perspective, which “asserts that gender is basic to all social structures and
organizations [and] recognizes that the experiences of women are different from those of men,
unequal or less privileged compared to men, and oppressed, subordinated, or abused by men”
(Medina, 2001: 7, citing Eshleman, 1997: 68, 73). All of these approaches are deemed crucial by
the researcher to his qualitative analysis of sibling rivalry instances despite the fact that they
have not yet been employed significantly by any scholar who deals with sibling rivalry.

35
CHAPTER IV – RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND
PRESENTATION OF DATA
Going to his data, the researcher next fulfills his second general objective. The data was
obtained by conducting an interview on 14 October 2014 with one member of each of the three
families that served as the cases. All three of them live in Barangay Balocawe, Dimasalang,
Masbate.
Brief Description of the Families
This description will not include the exact residential location of each family in order to
protect its privacy. Also, not included are the names (given, middle or last) of the subjects and
those of their parents as well as their specific occupations.
The three families live in a poor community within the rural municipality of Dimasalang.
The first and the last family cases have a neolocal residential pattern while the second one has a
bilocal residential pattern. Each of them has at least one member, the husband in particular for
the first and second families, who belongs to the working class. The families can thus be
classified as working class families based on the classification presented above. The families
exhibit traditional role-playing and are classified as nuclear or conjugal families of orientation,
where the parents are heterosexuals and married.
Sibling Rivalry Instances
Family A
Interviewee: The older of the two subjects – an 11-year old girl. Honeylate C. Rufa -9 Brother
The boy and his Ate (older sister) are seldom arguing. But when they argue, they engage
in a non-violent confrontation using only words or insults usually over issues such as what TV

36
programs or channels to watch. The two siblings oftentimes argue about who should do the
dishwashing or housekeeping. The boy’s older sister cries when he does not follow what she tells
him to do with regard to household chores. But the boy does not beat his ate. It is the girl who
would push the boy a little. Trying to avoid any further altercation, the boy generally follows his
sister’s orders.
Family B
Interviewee: The younger of the two subjects – a 12-year old girl. Aive D. Ochia – 15 Brother
Whenever the siblings are in front of their television set, the older sibling makes sure that
her younger brother does not hold the remote control or keep on pressing any button on the TV
set. Sometimes the male sibling punches his younger sister and vice versa. He is strong for his
age and the girl definitely cries whenever his fist hits a part of her body.
The boy shouts at his younger sister, even curses her when she insists on giving him
orders that he would not enjoy doing. The boy says that the females should be the ones working
in the house so why should his ate tell him to do the household chores… The female slightly
agrees with him but she believes that they should take turns as what their parents are telling
them.
The girl’s school performance is good so far and she notices that her brother is becoming
envious of that because he would not care about school grades. They also argue about the
ownership of certain items such as food and school supplies.
Family C
Interviewee: The younger of the two subjects – a 13-year old girl. Sarrah Jean M. Quining 14Bro
The male-female sibling pair always quarrels. A day would not pass without the two
siblings arguing about particular issues like household chores, the kinds of television programs to
be viewed, and specific commands from their parents.

37
The female sibling cries when her Kuya (older brother) beats her every time the two of
them argue about tasks and compete for easier activities. The female sibling usually wins an
argument against her brother with the help of their parents and older siblings who would scold
the boy for the things he does erroneously and for arguing with his younger sister. When either
of the siblings senses that his or her parents are going to intervene in a contention, he or she
immediately seeks a biased position or attention toward himself or herself.
The siblings sometimes fight over limited food items such as snacks and dishes. There
were also times when the female sibling would keep a bitter feeling toward her younger brother
and that feeling lasts for weeks. This is mainly due to insults thrown at each other such as
“rooky” and “tiskig” or lanky. The two do not settle their miscommunication problems as
regards family resources and just let themselves interact as if they were cats and dogs who would
suddenly engage in a fight.

38
CHAPTER V – SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, ANALYSIS OF DATA
AND RECOMMENDATION
Common Findings and Interpretation
The television set, which is a tangible resource, is a common object of contention because
it is only one and is shared by all members. Ownership of a tangible resource such as the TV set,
food and school supplies is limited and resources are mostly held in common or shared by the
siblings because of economic or financial constraints. The family cannot afford to buy or provide
all the things that each sibling desires. Competition is inevitable in a house where a valuable or
enjoyable object is limited or unique. Household tasks are selectively done because the tasks,
which the siblings find hard to do, are avoided. Part of value-maximizing by the siblings is the
evasion from or the minimization of the physical effort that is exerted in performing a task.
It is the female sibling who cries whenever a violent or nonviolent contention occurs. The
female sibling’s crying is partly a product of the family’s, and to some extent of the
community’s, gender socialization, which discourages males from shedding tears because it is a
feminine emotional expression.
In the two households where the father serves as the head and the breadwinner of the
family and the mother just stays at home, also in the one where the only parent left is the mother
who works abroad as a domestic helper or DH, the female siblings do more household chores
than the male ones. This is part of gender-role differentiation in the family. Just like their mother,
the female children are tasked to do the household chores while the male ones, much like their
father, are entitled to work outside if they are able to.
It is difficult to know whether or not the siblings compete for parental love and attention,
prestige and honor, or benefits and services. This kind of competition was not discussed
thoroughly by the interviewees and thus remain difficult to trace.

39
Conclusion
It should be noted that the sibling rivalry instances that have been identified occurs
between male and female siblings. These instances are thus specific to a “gendered” sibling
relationship that is competitive in nature. Three views can be arrived at with reference to the
conceptual approaches that were employed to analyze the data. First, the structural-institutional
perspective suggests that within this sibling relationship, the female sibling identifies with her
mother while the male sibling identifies with his father. However, it considers the relationship as
distinct from the two other family subsystems, which are the husband-wife relations and the
parent-child relations. The male-female sibling relationship is isolated from the other two family
relationships so to avoid a loss of conceptual focus. This implies that the roles of the parents in
providing the family resources to their children and distributing these resources among the
siblings were not observed and described. The researcher is content with the fact that there are
indeed family resources and just focuses on how the siblings compete for these resources.
Second, the rational choice perspective views the family resources as the main objects of
contention and not anything else. The ideas that sibling rivalry ensues when these resources are
not evenly distributed and that siblings are value-maximizers do not remain mere bookish
statements because the data now speak of them. Lastly, the feminist perspective confirms the
situation of female children as being inferior to that of the male ones because of two reasons.
One is that the females are given more household tasks than the males and the other is that the
female siblings are thought of as emotionally and physically weak because they are expected to
cry whenever the male siblings use force against them.
Recommendation
It is highly recommended that other researchers pursue the same study with different
objectives and angles in order to broaden the knowledge base of “Sibling Rivalry”. Other issues

40
such as the role of parents in sibling rivalry instances can also be explored as well as the
interaction of other siblings aside from the male-female sibling pairs so considered.
Nevertheless, the researcher wishes that he could do something about these sibling rivalry
instances someday…
----o=(Ű)=o—

41
CURRICULUM VITAE
GLENN RIVERA
Nickname: Bon or Glenn
PERSONAL DATA
Addresses : _________________________ Masbate City
: 376 St. Paul Street, Republic Ave., Holy Spirit, Quezon City
Mobile Number : ________________________
Email Address :
Age : ___ years old
Birth Date : December 5
Civil Status : Single
Height : 5’ 7”
Religion : Roman Catholic
Father’s Name : Bonifacio A. Rivera, Ph.D.
Public Schools District Supervisor – Dimasalang, Masbate
Mother’s Name : Shirlyn G. Rivera
Public Elementary School Teacher – District Property Officer
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Post Graduate : 21 Units in Professional Education
__________________
__________________
First Semester 2012-2013
Tertiary : Cum Laude (BA Political Science)
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Diliman, Quezon City
2005-2009
Secondary : Science and Technology Oriented Class (STOC) - A
Masbate National Comprehensive High School (MNCHS)
Masbate City
2001-2005
Elementary : First Honorable Mention, Best in Scouting Awardee

42
Palanas Central School
Palanas, Masbate
1994-2001
SOCIAL DATA
Affiliations : Lifetime Member of Pi Gamma Mu (PGM) International Honor Society
in the Social Sciences - Philippine Alpha Chapter (Inducted 02 March
2009)
: Qualified Candidate for Membership in Phi Kappa Phi International
Honor Society
: Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) active member from 1997-2004
Work Experience : (July 18-25, 2009) On the Job Trainee as a Field Officer and
Advertising Consultant of Success Unlimited Enterprises (a subsidiary of
Steck-Vaughn Company of Texas)
Nature of Work: Introducing the General Educational Development (GED)
Program Modules in Masbate (moving operation)
(February 10, 2010 to November 30, 2011) Staff Member, Research
Assistant and Writer at the Labor Education and Research Network
(LEARN)
Nature of Work: Conducting research studies and assisting labor
education seminars, including gender-related activities, and forums on
Magna Carta of Women and Community Development; Writing papers
and articles and taking photographs for the website of LEARN; and
Drafting proposed long-term plans and reports of LEARN and its
Member-organizations including a federation of employees’ cooperatives
(February 6 – September 30, 2012) Community Development Facilitator
at Plan International Philippines – Masbate Program Unit through the LBP
Service Corporation.
Nature of Work: Facilitating community development projects, doing
liaison work and processing proposals, data and reports for the benefit of
children, their families and communities. The work is central to Plan’s
frontline services since it is a humanitarian international non-
governmental organization that helps marginalized children enjoy their
right to quality education.
(December 7 – 29, 2012) Lecturer at the Maglente Review and Training
Center.
Nature of Work: Discussing sample examination questions and several key
ideas to reviewees for Licensure Examination for Teachers.
(May 26, 2014 – Present) Teacher I at Department of Education Division
of Masbate.
Nature of Work: Engages in classroom supervision and instruction as a
regular/permanent public school teacher at Balocawe Elementary School,
Balocawe, Dimasalang, Masbate

43
Certificates : Certificate of Special Civil Service Eligibility granted under Presidential
Decree No. 907 (Honor Graduate Eligibility)
Certificate of Completion in Social Science Research Training held at the
Third World Studies Center in the University of the Philippines, Diliman
on October 19-20, 2010
Board Examination : Licensure Examination for Teachers with an Average Rating of 87.20
taken on September 29, 2013 at Masbate City, Masbate with License
#______
Leadership Trainings, Conferences, Forums and Other Related Activities Co-organized,
Attended and Accomplished
5-7 September 2014 Division Live-out Seminar on Coaching and Training in Various Sports
Disciplines
Aroroy National High School
Ambolong, Aroroy, Masbate
4-5 July 2014 Division Roll-out Seminar on Results-based Performance Management
System (RPMS)
Dimasalang Central School
Poblacion, Dimasalang, Masbate
14-16 May 2012 Plan International’s Child Protection Policy Orientation
Greenview Hotel and Resto Bar
Nursery, Masbate City
16-17 Apr 2012 Orientation and Planning on the Learn Without Fear Campaign of Plan
International
Circle E Restaurant and Lodge
Tugbo, Mobo, Masbate
11-13 Apr 2012 Policy Forum and BCPC Training on RA 9344 or Juvenile Justice System
Umoroy Beach Resort
Umoroy, Mobo, Masbate
20 Mar 2012 Plan 75th Anniversary Celebration Hosting with Ms. Geraldine Longasa
Magallanes Coliseum
Quezon Street, Masbate City
19 Feb 2012 Youth Peer Educators’ Dry-run Roll Out
Plan International Masbate Program Unit Office
3rd
Floor Revil Building, Crossing, Masbate City
6 Feb 2012 Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) Training
Circle E Restaurant and Lodge
Tugbo, Mobo, Masbate
21 Nov 2011 Drafting of and Write Shop on the “Kasambahay Bill” sponsored by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) Central Office
The Bayleaf Hotel
Intramuros, Manila
LEARN Representative to the Technical Working Group on Domestic
Work (DomWork-TWG) and Write Shop Participant
24-26 Oct 2011 2011 Asia Regional Conference – “Towards Ratification of the ILO

44
Convention on Domestic Work (C189) in Asia”
Hotel InterContinental Manila
Makati City
Event Facilitator and Secretariat Member
18-20 Aug 2011 Specialized Course on Paralegal Training – focused on Labor Laws and
Legal Procedures; organized by LEARN and Alliance of Filipino Workers
Sitio Lucia Hotel Resort and Training Center
Santa Maria, Bulacan
Participant and Documentor
12 Aug 2011 International Youth Day 2011 Celebration and Convention – graced by
President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, ILO Country Director – Manila
Office Lawrence Johnson and foreign dignitaries and Heads of States
SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia Complex
Pasay City
Participant
2 June 2011 Forum on Cooperative Taxation and Governance with Speakers from the
BIR, Cooperative Development Authority, Novaliches Development
Cooperative (NOVADECI) and some Congressmen’s Staff
LEARN Workers’ House
Quezon City
Secretariat Member, Documentor and Photographer
21 June 2011 Church-Labor Conference’s Forum on Unemployment, Security of Tenure
and Right to Self-Organization
Occupational Health and Safety Center
Diliman, Quezon City
Attendee
16-17 May 2011 Logical Framework Approach Workshop and Training
Organized yearly by Mr. Fredrik Lindahl, Programme Manager of the
Sweden-based Olof Palme International Center (OPIC)
Quezon City
Participant
14 May 2011 R.A.C.E - Run Against Contractual Employment (Fun Run)
Seaside Boulevard, SM Mall of Asia
Pasay City
Event Organizer and Photographer
24-25 Feb 2011 Second TAP Agreement Conference (International Seafarers’ Conference)
Through the Efforts of LEARN-Member organization MARINO
(Mariners’ Association for Regional and International Networking
Organization) and Sweden-based labor organization SEKO (Swedish
Union for Service and Communications Employees)
Hotel InterContinental Manila
Makati City
In Charge of Documentation, Secretariat Member and Photographer
22-24 Feb 2011 Global Network – Asia Regional Training on Social Protection and
Participatory Budgeting (Asia-wide)
Quezon City
Secretariat Member and Photographer

45
27-28 Jan 2011 Global Network – Asia National Seminar on Social Protection Advocacy
and GSIS Consultation Workshop with Public Sector Employees
Fernandina 88 Suites Hotel – Cubao
P. Tuazon St., Cubao, Quezon City
Secretariat Member and Photographer
24 Jan 2011 TWSC-Sephis Lecture on Social Movements with Dr. Ari Sitas
Claro M. Recto Hall
Rizal Building a.k.a. Faculty Center, UP Diliman
Quezon City
Assistant Organizer, Secretariat Member and Photographer
25 Jan 2011 Afternoon Roundtable Discussion with Advocacy Groups and Social
Movements in Asia together with Dr. Ari Sitas from South Africa
Adarna Food and Culture Restaurant
Kalayaan Avenue, Quezon City
Assistant Organizer, Secretariat Member and Photographer
4 Dec 2010 NCR-Wide Workers’ Family Day Hosted by the Labor Education and
Research Network (LEARN)
Amoranto Sports Complex
Quezon City
Organizer, Master of Ceremonies and Facilitator
1-3 Dec 2010 Asia Regional Labour Movement Network Meeting
Quezon City
In Charge of Minutes of Proceedings and Photographer
7-9 Oct 2010 2010 Asia Regional Conference – “Towards Adoption of an ILO
Convention on Domestic Work”
Sari Pan Pacific Hotel
Jakarta, Indonesia
Assisting Staff to the Regional Coordinator of Global Network – Asia
14 Aug 2010 Labor Educators’ Forum hosted by the LEARN Research Unit together
with distinguished South Korean PhD Professors
Quezon City
Organizer, Facilitator and Photographer
28 Nov 2008 The UP Centennial Lecture Series: Is there a Cause or Consequence of the
Country’s Weak Industry?”
National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development
UP Diliman, Quezon City
Attendee
19 Sept 2008 GRP – Moro Conflict: Is there an End in Sight? Human Security and
Human Development Revisited (Sponsored by UNDP) with Senator
Franklin Drilon, Former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Prof. Solita
Winnie Monsod
School of Economics Auditorium,
Attendee
31 Jan 2008 Centennial Lecture - Discussion on Poverty
The UP Centennial Lecture Series – A Centennial Conversation “Poverty:
Facts, Theories and Remedies”

46
National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development
Attendee
Oct 2004-Jan 2005 MNCHS Ang Rantso School Paper Sports Writer and Editor
MNCHS, Masbate City
Summer 2004 Class RUBRIC Cadet Officer Leadership Training (COLT)
MNCHS, Masbate City
Cadet Officer Leadership Trainee
14-16 Dec 2004 2004 Regional Secondary Schools Press Conference
Pag-asa National High School, Rawis, Legazpi City
Contestant, Sports Writing Division
3 Nov 2004 2004 City Division Schools Press Conference (Elementary and High
School Level)
Liceo de Masbate, Masbate City
Second Placer, Sports Writing Division
23-26 Sept 2004 MNCHS Science Camp
Umoroy Beach Resort, Mobo, Masbate
Facilitator
25 Aug 2004 Regional Search for Ten Outstanding Boy Scouts of the Philippines
Hindi Elementary School, Bacacay West District, Bacacay, Albay
Sole Provincial Candidate
23-28 Aug. 2004 2004 Bicol Regional Jamborette
Bgy. Hindi, Bacacay, Albay
Delegate
01-06 Apr 2004 2004 National Youth Science, Technology and Environment Summer
Camp
GM’s Resort, Talipanan, Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental
Participant
Feb 2004 Recipient of the Saber Legacy during the Juniors-Seniors Prom
MNCHS, Masbate City
25 Aug-01 Sept 2003 2003 National Scout Venture Camp
Gabao, Sorsogon City
Delegate
27-28 Aug 2003 2003 National Scout Venture Camp Scout Youth Forum
San Roque Elementary School, Gabao, Sorsogon City
Ex-Officio Member of the Organizing Committee
10-12 Apr 2003 National Scout Youth Forum for Luzon
Hiyas Convention Center, Malolos City, Bulacan
Delegate
04-06 Apr 2003 Regional Scout Youth Forum and National Board of Review for Eagle
Scouts
Sipocot National High School, Sipocot, Camarines Sur
Forum Facilitator
05-07 Mar 2003 Patrol/Crew Leaders Training Course
Mobo Central School, Mobo, Masbate
Facilitator and Patrol Leader
29 Nov-01 Dec 2001 Division Science, Technology and Environment Youth Camp
Dacu Beach Resort, Dacu, Mobo, Masbate
Participant

47
30 Nov-3 Dec 2000 16th
Provincial Jamboree 2000
San Raphael, Cataingan, Masbate
Delegate
01-05 Aug 2000 National Junior Leaders Encampment 2000
Camp Antonio Nicolas, Sr., Adovis, Casiguran, Sorsogon
Delegate
27-30 Nov 1998 15th
Provincial Jamboree
DEBESMSCAT, Cabitan, Mandaon, Masbate
Delegate
08-13 Oct 1997 Bicol Regional Heritage Camp
Banquerohan, Legazpi City
Youngest Municipal Delegate
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
• Classroom Instruction and Supervision
• Chess Coaching
• Research, Survey, and Interview Skills
• Planning Skills – with Wide Knowledge of the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) to
Project Planning and Evaluation and SWOT Analysis
• Events Organizing and Preparation – including international seminars, meetings and
workshops
• Basic Statistical Knowledge
• Leadership Abilities
• Excellent Writing, Translation and Documentation Abilities
• Short- and Long-Distance Traveling and Driving (with Passport)
• Teaching/Training Skills
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills
• Flexible and Works with Minimal Supervision
• Skills in Basic Photography and Video Presentation
• Computer Skills
➢ Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint and Excel
➢ Windows Moviemaker
➢ Internet Browsing
➢ Website Article Writing
➢ Creating and Maintaining Social Network Pages for Advocacy and
Information Dissemination Purposes
SELECTED RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
1. The Effects of Electoral Systems on Rival-Motivated Legislative Electoral Contestation
in New Democratic and Transitional Regimes
BA Political Science Undergraduate Research Proposal
2. Section II – “Failed Efforts to Modernize Philippine Elections” in The Philippine
Electoral System: Key Problem Areas and Issues
Term Paper in Philippine National and Local Administration Class of Prof. Ranjit S. Rye
3. Sibling Rivalry within a Male-Female Sibling Relations in a Poor Urban Community

48
Basic Research for Sociology 101 Class under Prof. Clarissa Rubio
4. Comparative Study on Minimum Wage Laws and Systems in Asia
Unpublished Research Paper for the Global Network – Asia through LEARN
5. Precarious Employment Patterns in the Metalworking Industry
Unpublished Research Paper for the Philippine Metalworkers’ Alliance (PMA) through
LEARN
6. Baseline Research in the Philippine Broadcasting Industry
Unpublished Research Paper for the National Alliance of Broadcast Unions (NABU)
through LEARN
REFERENCES
Jona Alcaraz
Group Manager
Success Unlimited Enterprises
4th floor Orcel II Building, 1611 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
Mobile Number: 09214019642
Ma. Luisa T. Camagay, Ph. D.
Secretary, Pi Gamma Mu Philippine Alpha Chapter
UP Department of Psychology
Palma Hall Annex, UP Diliman, Quezon City
Telephone Number: 982-2728;
Trunk Line: 981-8500 Local 2453 or 2455
Domingo Maggay
Masbate Council Scout Executive
Boy Scouts of the Philippines – Masbate Council
Masbate City, Masbate
Myrna Magbojos
4th Year High School (STOC-A Jaguar) Adviser
El Dorado, Bagumbayan, Masbate City
Amado M. Mendoza, Jr., Ph. D.
Political Science 199 (Research Proposal) Adviser
Faculty Center 3184
Email Address: ammendoza@up.edu.ph
Marlene D. Sindayen
Finance Officer at the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN)
Chairperson of Novaliches Development Cooperative (NOVADECI)
94 Scout Delgado Street, Bgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City
Related Websites: www.learn.org.ph
www.theglobalnetwork.net
www.ifwea.org
Email Address: msindayen@gmail.com
Office Numbers: (632) 376-6736 or 332-1343

49
Roy C. Soledad
Program Unit Manager
Plan International Philippines – Masbate
E-mail Address: roy.soledad@plan-international.org
Jenelyn V. Rey
Plan Area B – Supervisor
Email Address: jenelyn.rey@plan-international.org
Hon. Henry J. Naga
Mayor – Dimasalang, Masbate
Rev. Msgr. Ismael B. Misolas
Parish Priest
Saint Anthony de Padua Cathedral
Samuel D. Regidor
Principal II – Balocawe Elementary School
Mobile Numbers: 09286703667 and 09159053966

50
References
Appelbaum, Richard P. (1995). Sociology. New York: Harper Collins.
Beer, William R. (1989). Strangers in the House: The World of Stepsiblings and Half-siblings.
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction.
Cohen, Shari. (1989). Coping with Sibling Rivalry. New York: Rosen Publishing Group.
Eshleman, J. Ross. (1991). The Family: An Introduction (6th
Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Giddens, Anthony. (1997). Sociology (3rd
Ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hapworth, William E., Hapworth, Mada, and Heilman, Joan Rattner. (1993). Mom Loved You
Best! New York, N.Y.: Viking.
Heywood, Andrew. (2002). Politics (2nd
Ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Macionis, John J. (1997). Sociology (6th
Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Medina, Belen Tan Gatue. (2001). The Filipino Family (2nd
Ed). Quezon City: University of the
Philippines Press.
Monsod, Solita C. (2007, January). The Challenge of Economic Development. Lecture given in
Economics 100.1: Introduction to Macroeconomics, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City.
Office of the President - Republic of the Philippines. (2005, January). GMA Awards Land
Certificates to NGC Project Beneficiaries in Quezon City. Retrieved February 24, 2008,
from http://www.op.gov.ph/printerfriendly.asp?newsid=6607
Pilapil, Gene L. (2005, January). Why the Philippines is a Poor Country and Has a High
Income Inequality. Lecture given in Political Science 14: Philippine Government and
Politics, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City.
Rubio, Clarissa. (2007, February). Population, Urbanization, and Human Ecology. Lecture given
in Sociology 101: Introduction to Sociology, University of the Philippines-Diliman,

51
Quezon City.
Salita, Domingo C. (1997). Geography and Natural Resources of the Philippines (2nd
Ed.).
Quezon City: JMC Press.
United States Department of State. (2007, October). Background Note: Philippines. Retrieved
January 19, 2008, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2794.htm
Virola, Romulo A., Addawe, Mildred B., and Querubin, Ma. Ivy T. (2007). Trends and
Characteristics of the Middle-Income Class in the Philippines: Is it Expanding or
Shrinking? In Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board: 10th National
Convention on Statistics (NCS). Retrieved January 19, 2008, from
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ncs/10thNCS/papers/contributed%20papers/cps-12/cps12-01.pdf

Sibling Rivalry Between Male and Female Siblings in Poor Families

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