Confidants for life: Examining sibling relationship positivity and disclosure in U.S. Latinx college students while considering the role of familism

Abstract

Familism is a central facet of Latin culture, yet there has been little work examining its role within the sibling relationship. Importantly, young adulthood provides a unique context where sibling dynamics may shift as independence increases and one begins to solidify their personal beliefs. During this time, sibling relationship quality remains influential. One mechanism to encourage positive sibling relationships is by teasing apart disclosure content. Therefore, we posited the following research questions: Is disclosure content associated with sibling relationship quality? Are there differential associations between familism dimensions (referent, support, obligations, and respect for family) and sibling relationship quality? Do these familism dimensions moderate the association between domain-differentiated disclosure and sibling relationship quality? To address these questions, via online surveys, 186 Latinx undergraduates (M _age = 21.35, SD = 1.79) reported on frequency of disclosure to their closest-in-age sibling, sibling relationship quality, and endorsement of four familism values. Findings revealed that more frequent engagement in personal disclosure (e.g., “How I spend my free time”) was associated with more reports of sibling positivity. With prudential disclosure (e.g., “Whether I smoke cigarettes”), more frequent disclosure was associated with less sibling positivity. All four dimensions of familism were associated with more sibling positivity. For personal disclosure, across all familism models, its association with sibling positivity was magnified under average to high levels of familism endorsement. For prudential disclosure, its association with sibling relationship quality was magnified under high levels of familism endorsement for all models except for respect for family. Within the respect for family model, when endorsed at low levels, multifaceted (e.g., “Whether I stay out late”) disclosure was associated with more sibling positivity. Our study highlights the particularly positive implications of siblings disclosing about personal domain issues compared to other topical domains. Our work also suggests familism is positive for sibling relationships, but interestingly, when it interacts with disclosure, the findings are mixed.