Pathways of Development

Abstract

This chapter explores variation in presentations of jealousy protest through attention to findings on child and contextual influences on individual differences. Linkages with influences known to represent protection and risk yield four patterns of protest: Organized, Inhibited, Disinhibited, and Dysregulated. The distinctiveness of these four patterns attests to divergent pathways of development being apparent even in jealousy protest’s emergent form, and calls for longitudinal research to establish sequelae relating to child outcomes. The chapter concludes by discussing implications for clinical intervention for facilitating child adjustment upon the arrival of a newborn sibling. It highlights the importance of maintaining realistic expectations, recognizing atypical responses, both attenuated and acute, that may suggest clinically significant features of emotional dysfunction, and taking steps well before the sibling’s arrival to help children acquire a repertoire of emotion regulation strategies that will later serve toward the management of jealousy.

When a child finds himself relatively neglected in favor of the new baby,assertion of his claims may redress the balance. Thus in the right place, atthe right time, and in the right degree, anger is not only appropriate butmay be indispensable

—(Bowlby 1988, pp. 79–80)