One study found that the age group 10 to 15 reported the highest level of competition between siblings.Sibling rivalry can continue into adulthood, and sibling relationships can change dramatically over the years. Events, such as a parent’s illness, may bring siblings closer together, whereas marriage may drive them apart, particularly if the in-law relationship is strained. Approximately one-third of adults describe their relationship with siblings as rivalrous or distant. However, rivalry often lessens over time. At least 80 percent of siblings over the age of 60 enjoy close ties. Causes
According to Kyla Boyse from the University of Michigan, each child in a family competes to define who it is as an individual and wants to show that it is separate from its siblings. Children may feel they are getting unequal amounts of their parents’ attention, discipline, and responsiveness. Children fight most in families where there is neither any understanding that fighting is not an acceptable way to resolve conflicts nor any alternative way of handling such conflicts; in families in which physical fighting is forbidden but no method of non-physical conflict resolution (e.g., verbal argument) is permitted, the conversion and accumulation of everyday disputes into long-simmering hostilities can have an effect nearly as corrosive. Stress in the parents’ and children’s lives can create more conflict and increase sibling rivalry. Some research indicates that changes in the weather can increase the likelihood of children exhibiting deviant behavior.
Persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL) is enlarged, painless, non-tender lymph nodes occurring in a couple of different areas for more than three to six months for which no other reason can be found. This condition frequently occurs in people in the latency period of HIV/AIDS.The lymphatic system is part of the immune surveillance system. Blood contains fluid and blood cells. The fluid, which may contain suspended foreign material such as bacteria and viruses, seeps through blood vessel walls into the tissues, where it bathes the body cells and exchanges substances with them. Some of this lymph fluid is then taken up by lymphatic vessels and passed back to the heart, where it is again mixed with the blood. On its way, the fluid passes through the lymph nodes, small nodular organs located throughout the body but concentrated in certain areas such as the armpits or groin. These lymph nodes are also known as glands or lymphoid tissue. If they detect something foreign passing through them, they enlarge. This is called lymphadenopathy or swollen glands. Usually this is localized (for example, an infected spot on the scalp will cause lymph nodes in the neck on that same side to swell). However, when two or more lymph node groups are involved, it is called generalized lymphadenopathy. Usually this is in response to significant systemic disease and will subside once the person has recovered.