NCJ Number
204600
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 133-147
Date Published
April 2004
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of perceived sibling relationships on early to middle adolescent development.
Abstract
According to a family systems perspective, the family is a social system that consists of different subsystems, among them sibling subsystems. However, most research on adolescent development within the family system has focused on the parent-child and martial subsystems. The current study uses a longitudinal, three-wave methodology to examine the relationships among sibling relationships and multiple adolescent developmental outcomes. Data were collected from fathers, mothers, and target children in 374 families during 3 scheduled home visits separated by 1 year intervals. Measures were included for the quality of perceived sibling relationships, perceptions of friendships, academic achievement, self-esteem, and for a series of developmental outcomes such as loneliness, depression, delinquency, and substance use. Results of factor analysis and structural equation modeling revealed that adolescents who reported positive sibling relationships at Time 1 had better friendships and higher self-esteem at Time 2, which was in turn associated with less deleterious developmental outcomes at Time 3. A bidirectional association was found between self-esteem and quality of sibling relationship, indicating that higher self-esteem contributed to more positive sibling relationships and, conversely, positive sibling relationships contributed to high self-esteem in adolescents. This bidirectional association was also found between sibling relationships and adolescent friendships. However, for the latter association, a stronger relationship was discovered between adolescent sibling relationships at Time 1 and adolescent friendships at Time 2, than vice versa, suggesting that the quality of the sibling relationship is more predictive of the quality of later friendships than is the quality of friendships on later sibling relationships. These findings hold implications for adolescent programming that focuses on family relationships. Future research should focus on the effects of sibling relationships on late adolescent development. Figures, appendix, references