Sibling abuse : hidden physical, emotional, and sexual trauma /

As early as 1980, Murray Straus, Richard Gelles, and Suzanne Steinmetz in Behind Closed Doors (CH, Jul'80) claimed sibling abuse as the most frequent type of family violence. David Finkelhor also referred to it in Sexually Victimized Children (1979). Yet, in the growing literature on family violence, sibling abuse is underrepresented and sometimes linked, in discussion, to sibling rivalry. Wiehe's book is concerned exclusively with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse among siblings. It is a qualitative study based on reports of 150 respondents' experiences of such abuse. Some guidelines for identifying sibling abuse, common parental responses to it, and suggestions for prevention are included. The author has several audiences in mind, from professionals to persons victimized by siblings. The book is very readable, comparable to F.G. Bolton, L.A. Morris, and A.E. MacEachron's Males at Risk (1989), though it is less theoretical. Notes at the end are limited but representative of the field. -Y. Peterson, Saint Xavier College