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I don't think the claim relies on siblings' environments being the exact same. The point is just that the degree of intra-family similarity is almost always far
by samhw 5y ago
I don't think the claim relies on siblings' environments being the exact same. The point is just that the degree of intra-family similarity is almost always far greater than the degree of average inter-family similarity. To a reasonable approximation it's fair to call it 'the same' in the context of the comparison with non-siblings.
- martinlaz 5y agoOK, but the claim is that siblings are different, despite growing up in the same environment, because they have their "own nature and character by birth". I guess what I'm saying is that they might become different due to the environment necessarily changing in pretty significant ways for each of them.
- samhw 5y agoAh, perhaps I misread the argument actually. I agree, that's definitely an important counterpoint. Sorry about that! Sadly I can no longer edit my original comment, since it's >=2hrs old, but hopefully this can stand as a self-correction.
- tsimionescu 5y agoI don't think that's true - the difference between being an only child and having older siblings is much more than the difference between two only children in relatively similar (from a socio-economic point of view) families, I would say. The way parents interact with their first child and subsequent children is significantly different, and the added interaction between the children themselves compounds these.