Abstract
Two hundred and seventy-five college undergraduates coming from families of 2–7 children completed questionnaires about their relationships with their siblings. Aspects of intersibling communication, influence, and current and past affective relationships were investigated. The relationships reported were generally more positive than those revealed in other investigations of younger children. Presence of two parents in the home, size of the sibling group, and ordinal position of the respondent student had particular effects upon reported relationships. Furthermore, there were qualitative differences in the relationships between sibling pairs of different ordinal statuses. Results indicate that relationships between siblings have both complementary and reciprocal features, and caution against unidimensional characterizations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramovitch, R., Corter, C., and Lando, B. (1979). Sibling interaction in the home.Child Develop. 50: 997–1003.
Adams, B. N. (1968).Kinship in an Urban Setting. Markham Publishing, Chicago.
Allan, G. (1977). Sibling solidarity.J. Marriage Family 39: 177–184.
Bank, S., and Kahn, M. D. (1982).The Sibling Bond. Basic, New York.
Baskett, L. M., and Johnson, S. M. (1982). The young child's interactions with parents versus siblings: A behavioral analysis.Child Develop. 53: 643–650.
Bild, B. R., and Havighurst, R. J. (1976). Family and social support.Gerontologist 16: 63–69.
Bossard, J. H. S., and Boll, E. S. (1956).The Large Family System. The University of Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Bryant, B. (1979, September). Siblings as caretakers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York.
Bryant, B. (1982). Sibling relationships in middle childhood. In Lamb, M., and Sutton-Smith, B. (eds.),Sibling Relationships: Their Nature and Significance Across the Lifespan. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Cicirelli, V G. (1977). Relationship of siblings to the elderly person's feelings and concerns.J. Gerontol. 32: 317–322.
Cicirelli, V. G. (1980a). A comparison of college women's feelings toward their siblings and parents.J. Marriage Family 42: 95–102.
Cicirelli, V. G (1980b, December). Adult children's views on providing services for elderly parents. Report to the NRTA-AARP Andrus Foundation.
Cumming, E., and Schneider, D. (1961). Sibling solidarity: A property of American kinship.Am. Anthropol. 63: 498–507.
Dunn, J., and Kendrick, C. (1980). The arrival of a sibling: Changes in patterns of interaction between mother and first born child.J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. 21: 119–132.
Dunn, J., and Kendrick, C (1982). Siblings and their mothers: Developing relationships within the family. In Lamb, M. E., and Sutton-Smith, B. (eds.),Sibling Relationships: Their Nature and Significance Across the Lifespan. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Erikson, E. H. (1968).Identity: Youth and Crisis. Norton, New York.
Felson, R. B. (1983, December). Aggression and violence between siblings.Social Psychol. Quart.
Gully, N. J., Dengerink, H. A., Pepping, M., and Bergstrom, D. (1981). Sibling contribution to violent behavior.J. Marriage Family 32: 333–337.
Kelly, F. D., and Main, F. O. (1979). Sibling conflict in a single-parent family: An empirical case study.Am. J. Family Ther. 7: 37–47.
Kloepper, H. W., Leonard, W. M., and Huang, L. J. (1981). A comparison of the “only child” and the siblings' perceptions of parental norms and sanctions.Adolescence 16: 641–655.
Manney, J. D. (1975).Aging in American Society. Institute for Gerontology, Ann Arbor, MI.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status.J. Personal. Social Psychol. 3: 551–558.
Newman, J. (1990). Conflict and friendship in sibling relationships: A review. Unpublished manuscript.
Piaget, J. (1965).The Moral Judgment of the Child. Free Press, New York.
Reiss, P. J. (1962, November). The extended kinship system: Correlates of and attitudes on frequency of interaction.Marriage Family Liv. 333–339.
Ross, H. G., Dalton, M. J., and Milgram, J. (1981). Older adults' perceptions of closeness in sibling relationships. ERIC/CAPS Document Service, Document ED201903.
Ross, H., and Milgram, J. (1982). Important variables in adult sibling relationships: A qualitative study. In Lamb, M., and Sutton-Smith, B. (eds.),Sibling Relationships: Their Nature and Significance Over the Lifespan. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Straus, M. R., Gelles, P., and Steinmetz, S (1980).Behind Closed Doors. Doubleday, New York.
Sutton-Smith, B. (1977). Response to T. S Weisner and R. Gallimore “My brother's keeper” child and sibling caretaking.Curr. Anthropol. 18: 169–190.
Sutton-Smith, B., and Rosenberg, B. G. (1968). Sibling consensus on power tactics.J. Genet. Psyhol. 112: 63–72.
Wagner, M. E., Schubert, H., and Schubert, D (1979). Sibship constellation effects on psychosocial development, creativity and health. In Reese, H. W. and Lipsitt, L. P. (eds.),Advances in Child Development and Behavior (Vol. 14). Academic Press, New York.
Youniss, J. (1980).Parents and Peers in Social Development. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Teaches courses in child and adolescent development and assessment, and supervises school psychology trainees doing their internships. Received Ph.D. in psychology State University of New York at Albany. Main areas of research are sibling relationships, task attitudes and intrinsic motivation, and topics in adolescence.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Newman, J. College students' relationships with siblings. J Youth Adolescence 20, 629–644 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537366
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537366