RELAÇÕES ENTRE IRMÃOS ADOLESCENTES: SENTIDOS E SIGNIFICADOS.

Abstract

This study aimed to apprehend the senses and meanings that adolescent siblings of popular classes attribute to the relationship that is established between them. In this study, we adopt the concept of adolescence as a socially and historically constructed phenomenon, which is not interpreted as a natural phase of human development. The present research is qualitative and based on the theoretical and methodological principles of Vigotski s social-historical psychology, focusing on the historical and dialectical materialism perspective. The participants were five pairs of adolescent siblings from 12 to 18 years old, enrolled in Escola de Circo, one of the extension programs of the Instituto Dom Fernando (IDF) at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás (PUC-Goiás), in Goiânia (GO). The ten participants were interviewed individually and, at the end of the interviews, each of them produced a drawing expressing their relationship with the sibling. After that, they participated in two focal groups (FG), for which they were separated and each member of the sibling dyads took part in a different group: FG1 and FG2. According to the core meanings of the participants, it was possible to apprehend the senses and meanings that each adolescent attributed to himself, the sibling, and the family. In this study, the following main thesis was pursued: the senses and meanings attributed by the participant adolescents to their relationship with the sibling are marked by affective relationships, which are conflicts and friendship. From this principal thesis, others were also pursued, such as: lack of parental authority (and the affective fragility of families) gives way to situations involving violence and authoritarianism between siblings; violence and rivalry within the family are dialectically constituent and constituted based on violence within society; family is the legitimate place for children education/upbringing. Overall, this study evidenced that the adolescents have a naturalized concept of adolescence. We conclude that the physical or verbal violence between adolescent siblings was triggered by the uneven and asymmetrical relationship between them. Friendship between adolescent siblings is an important aspect of their relationship, and although conflicts are also present, this relationship may be very gratifying and enriching for both. Family, the complex combination of the relationships of its members, constituted the space for the antagonism experienced by adolescent siblings, as well as by all its members.