Siblings Relationships
Studies documented positive changes in sibling relationships in emerging adulthood. Participants described these relationships more positively, reporting more emotional exchanges and less conflict as compared with the adolescent period (Scharf et al., 2005), greater enjoyment of the moments together, and they viewed beginning college as a moment marking more maturity, new experiences, and perspectives on the sibling bond (Milevsky & Heerwagen, 2013). Siblings were also found to be providers of social support for each other in this stage, generally reporting high levels of support (Milevsky et al., 2005). Relying on siblings to provide immediate help when needed was found the most important function of support described by participants (Milevsky et al., 2005)
Findings also suggested that these relationships were influenced by different sociodemographic factors. Same sex sibships were characterized by more emotional exchanges and higher affective intensity relationships (Scharf et al., 2005), and female emerging adults were found to promote warmer sibling relationships (Milevsky et al., 2005). Age-gaps between siblings were viewed as negative for their relationships by some participants (Milevsky et al., 2005; Milevsky & Heerwagen, 2013), and younger emerging adults were more likely to report sibling conflict (Milevsky et al., 2005). Geographic distance between siblings was described either as an advantage (Milevsky & Heerwagen, 2013) or as having a negative effect on their relationships (Milevsky et al., 2005). Furthermore, support exchanges were affected by: one’s working situation, with non-employed participants scoring higher in support than employed ones; sibship length, with emerging adults from larger sibships scoring lower (Milevsky et al., 2005); and, family structure, with emerging adults from non-divorced families scoring higher than those from divorced families (Milevsky, 2004). In addition, parental divorce appeared to cause tension among sibling relationships (Milevsky & Heerwagen, 2013), promoting less closeness and less frequent communication (Milevsky, 2004).