No matter how well-behaved siblings are, they will occasionally fight or argue with each other. The severity and frequency of sibling rivalry depends on many things, including age difference, personality, age of children, and how fighting is handled by parents. It is generally thought that the younger children are, the more rivalry there will be.
Rivalry does seem to decrease as children get older.
It is also thought that the closer in age the children are, the more rivalry there will be. There is generally more competitiveness between children who are close in age. While there is little parents can do to completely eliminate rivalry between their children, there are some steps that can be taken to minimize it. Why Sibling Rivalry Occurs Whether siblings fight a lot or a little, there is usually no one specific cause. Rivalry occurs for a number of reasons.