Sisarusväkivallan taustalla olevat tekijät

Sibling violence is both the most common form of family violence and its least studied form. The main challenge is the lack of common criteria for sibling violence. It is difficult to differentiate between normal developmental behavior and violence. Sibling violence is often normalized and ignored. As a consequence, neither victim or perpetrator receive the support they need. The purpose of this literature review was to describe the background factors of sibling violence. The searches were performed in the CINAHL, Medic, Medline and PsycInfo databases. The inclusion criteria required peer-reviewed research articles focusing on factors facilitating sibling violence and perpetrators under 18. Fifteen articles were selected. Manual search produced two articles, resulting in a data set of 17 international articles. The data were analyzed through inductive content analysis. Factors facilitating sibling violence were encountering violence, challenges in intra-family relationships, family stress factors and demographic factors. Three subcategories of encountering violence emerged: becoming a victim of violence, witnessing family violence and exposure to unsuitable media. Challenges in intra-family relationships included absent parenthood, authoritarian parenthood, problems in family communication and behavioral challenges. Family stress factors were economic hardships, experiencing adversity and illnesses within the family. Demographic factors included gender, the sibling’s age, family size, family form, parents’ education levels and ethnic background. It can be concluded that violence has a tendency to cumulate. The familial environment and the actions of parents affect manifestations of sibling violence. Boys are perpetrators of sibling violence more often than girls.