Veronika Burcar Alm
Associate professor of sociology
A central theme running through Veronika Burcar Alm’s research is her interest in the sociology of youth combined with criminology. More recently, her research has focused on sibling violence as well as digital environments and their relationships to crime and social control.
FUNDING AWARDED SINCE 2023
SEK 1.4 million
Funder: The Swedish Crime Victim Authority
– We thought that our interviews with people who experienced sibling violence in childhood would be very retrospective. Instead, it turned out that many feel that what they were subjected to has left deep wounds that still affect them.
A few years ago, Veronika Burcar Alm, associate professor of sociology and senior lecturer in police work at Linnaeus University, initiated a research project on the boundaries between sibling squabbles and sibling violence. Together with Anna Rypi, associate professor of social work at Lund University, she has interviewed 25 people aged between 20 and 80.
In cases of sibling violence, the reciprocity that can exist in typical squabbles is absent. In the interviews, those exposed describe violence that started early, was persistent, and lasted for a long time. Everyone said that there was a clear victim and a clear perpetrator, and that the violence became a normal part of everyday life.
Situation with multiple victims
In some families where sibling violence occurs, there are other issues too, which might be related to drugs, substance abuse, mental ill-health, or the like. However, international research indicates that sibling violence is often not linked to a specific environment.
In Veronika’s study, a majority had grown up in Swedish middle-class families. However, many described a childhood with absent parents. Having parents around is closely linked to the responsibility of helping children set boundaries – for what a child should not expose someone else to, and what an exposed child should accept.
– It’s part of parents’ responsibility to prevent and stop violent behaviour in a child. When it comes to sibling violence, I’d say that many of those who use violence are also victims, precisely because they haven’t received help with setting boundaries.
Many who have experienced sibling violence say that they tried to share what they were going through, but few adults listened. Several remember times when they suffered injuries that were so bad they had to seek medical attention. On those occasions, staff might have asked them what their parents had done, without considering that the perpetrator could have been a sibling.
Unable to leave their family
Collaboration with professionals for enhanced knowledge
Many family therapists and other professionals lack the knowledge and terminology to discuss sibling violence with clients.
Therefore, Veronika Burcar Alm and her colleague Anna Rypi have initiated research circles with professionals, primarily social workers, in some local authorities.
– This fosters a rewarding exchange where we learn from each other. We hope these circles can result in a tool for professionals, perhaps in the form of a checklist. Web-based material accessible to the public could help more people understand what sibling violence is all about and give validation to those who have experienced it.
People are affected by living with violence in a close relationship. Children’s age and dependence on their surroundings make them particularly vulnerable – they cannot escape the violent relationship by leaving their family.
These experiences often affect the relationships of those affected. Many feel that they have always been very sensitive to criticism and have found it difficult to trust others, Veronika explains.
– Their experiences affect relationships with colleagues at work, but also friendships and romantic relationships. Some may end up in new violent relationships as adults. There are also examples of sibling violence continuing in adulthood but in a different form, where physical violence may be replaced by a more psychological and latent threat of violence. One woman said that she knows what mood her brother is in when she hears the way he closes a cupboard.
Several of those interviewed say that despite everything they have been through, they are doing well today – but it has taken a lot of time and effort. Some avoid family gatherings; others have felt compelled to cut off their entire extended family. There are also those who have wanted – and managed – to become friends with their sibling by trying to work through what happened together. Others have been able to talk to their parents about their experiences.
– Those who’ve found it easiest to move on seem to be the ones who have heard, either from their parents, from their sibling, or from both, that what they carry with them is something that actually happened. If confirmation from those around them is lacking, they might even start doubting their own experiences.