Associations Between Adolescent Sibling Conflict and Relationship Quality During the Transition to College

Abstract

Family researchers have acknowledged the importance of sibling relationships across the life span, but little is known about how this relationship functions during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. The present study therefore examined how two domains of adolescent sibling conflict (equality and fairness issues and personal domain invasions) are related to sibling relationship quality after firstborns leave home to attend college, from the perspectives of firstborn and secondborn siblings from the same families. Our findings suggest that frequent or intense sibling conflicts during adolescence may be related to more positive and less negative sibling relationships the first year after older siblings leave home, and that conflicts surrounding issues of equality and fairness may facilitate more egalitarian relationships during emerging adulthood for some siblings. It therefore seems that the sibling relationship during the adolescent years may have important implications for its long-term functioning into adulthood.