Determining the Influence of Sibling Relationships on Current Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Although sibling relationships are potentially the longest relationship a person will experience (Bank & Kahn, 1997), researchers know relatively little about the role of sibling relationships in youth development in comparison to research on parent-child relationships (Deater-Deckard, et al., 2002). Previous research has emphasized the importance of understanding sibling relationships throughout the transition to adulthood, and how romantic relationships are incorporated into an emerging adult’s social sphere (Conger & Little, 2010). Utilizing secondary data analysis on a sample of emerging adults (N=540), the current study aimed to determine the influence of sibling relationships on current romantic relationships. Sibling relationship quality in emerging adults was not found to be a significant predictor of romantic relationship quality. Participant sex, sibling sex constellation, and birth order were explored as potential moderators. Participant sex emerged as a moderator of this relationship. For males, romantic relationship quality increases as sibling relationship quality increases. For females, romantic relationship quality decreases as sibling relationship quality increases.