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DOI: 10.1177/2167696813502778

2014 2: 79 originally published online 5 September 2013Emerging Adulthood Anna K. Lindell, Nicole Campione-Barr and Kelly Bassett Greer

CollegeAssociations Between Adolescent Sibling Conflict and Relationship Quality During the Transition

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Article

Associations Between Adolescent SiblingConflict and Relationship Quality Duringthe Transition to College

Anna K. Lindell1, Nicole Campione-Barr 1, and Kelly Bassett Greer 1

Abstract

Family researchers have acknowledged the importance of sibling relationships across the life span, but little is known about howthis 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 siblingrelationship 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 morepositive 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 seemsthat the sibling relationship during the adolescent years may have important implications for its long-term functioning intoadulthood.

Keywords

college, family relationships, longitudinal, siblings, life events

Siblings are an important aspect of the family that are often

neglected by family researchers (see Brody, 1998; Dunn,

2002; McHale, Kim, & Whiteman, 2006 for reviews), yet these

relationships have key implications for family dynamics and

individual development (Brody, 2004), and provide much sup-

port during adulthood (Cicirelli, 1995). Given the importance

of sibling relationships during both early and later years, it is

surprising that there has been little investigation of this

relationship during emerging adulthood.

A growing body of literature has examined aspects of the

parent–child relationship during emerging adulthood (e.g.,

Kloep & Hendry, 2010; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012), but

the lack of research on siblings is troubling given their integral

role within the family context (Cox, 2010). Family systems the-

ory highlights the interdependent and transactional nature of

family members and their influences on one another; thus,

understanding the nature of only select dyads within the family

results in an incomplete or even incorrect picture of familyfunctioning (Minuchin, 1985). Systems theory recognizes, in

particular, that the transitions of one family member (i.e., to

emerging adulthood) impact the entire family system. In line

with this assertion, Conger and Little (2010) suggested that

transitioning to emerging adulthood involves a major ‘‘recen-

tering’’ of close relationships, including those between sib-

lings, as emerging adults establish greater independence from

their natal family and develop new roles. As a result, siblings’

day-to-day relationship becomes far more voluntary than ever

before, likely changing several aspects of the relationship.

The present study aims to uncover some of these changes by

investigating associations between sibling conflict and other

aspects of relationship quality during the transition from ado-

lescence to emerging adulthood, or more specifically to the

present study, to college. In 2010, approximately 41% of 18-

through 24-year-olds in the United States were enrolled in

either 2- or 4-year colleges (U.S. Department of Education,

2011), indicating that college is a salient part of emerging

adulthood for many Americans. Family processes during late

adolescence may be especially important for college students,

who often remain tied to their natal families in ways that those

leaving home to lead more independent lifestyles (i.e., full-time

employment, military) do not. Many college students are

partially, if not mostly, financially dependent on their parents

(Padilla-Walker, Nelson, & Carroll, 2012), and may spend the

majority of their school breaks at their natal homes. Thus,

although college students adopt many responsibilities of inde-

pendent living, they are often still only semiautonomous(Arnett, 2000), with family processes remaining particularly

salient factors for them. The present study also expands on

1 Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO,

USA

Corresponding Author:

Anna K. Lindell, MA, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of

Missouri, 210 McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

Email: [email protected]

Emerging Adulthood

2014, Vol. 2(2) 79-91

ª 2013 Society for the

Study of Emerging Adulthood

and SAGE Publications

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previous research by examining the sibling relationship from

the perspective of both transitioning adolescents and their

younger sibling, since this transition also likely impacts

younger siblings who stay behind (Whiteman, McHale, &

Crouter, 2011).

Sibling Relationship Quality Various sibling relationship qualities are related to both posi-

tive and negative outcomes among adolescents (e.g., Padilla-

Walker, Harper, & Jensen, 2010), and given the importance

of siblings later in life (e.g., Cicirelli, 1995), it may be partic-

ularly fruitful to examine some of these qualities during the

transition to emerging adulthood to better understand how sib-

lings establish patterns during adolescence that set the stage for

their relationships as adults. Aquilino (2006) has suggested that

siblings must achieve a sufficiently egalitarian relationship in

order to remain close later in life and that this may begin to

finalize during emerging adulthood. While sibling relation-

ships are considerably less hierarchical than parent–child

relationships, older siblings typically do hold more power dur-

ing childhood and adolescence (Perlman, Siddiqui, Ram, &

Ross, 2000), but by late adolescence, the relationship becomes

increasingly egalitarian (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990). Shortt

and Gottman (1997) found that college-aged siblings were gen-

erally successful at resolving power differences, but those who

were not close and who had more conflictive relationships

struggled to resolve these power imbalances. Due to the signif-

icant lifestyle changes that typically occur at the beginning of

emerging adulthood, some of these important changes in

sibling power differential may occur during older siblings’ first

year away from home.

Throughout adolescence, some sibling relationship quali-ties, including warmth and closeness, decline significantly

(Buhrmester & Furman, 1990), but Kim, McHale, Osgood, and

Crouter (2006) found that sibling intimacy may actually

increase toward the end of adolescence, particularly for

mixed-sex sibling dyads. In line with these findings, a cross-

sectional Israeli study (Scharf, Shulman, & Avigad-Spitz,

2005) showed that emerging adults (compared to adolescents)

had less conflicted, yet warmer relationships with their sib-

lings, supporting the possibility of a rebound in positivity after

the end of adolescence. Whiteman, McHale, and Crouter

(2011) have shown that an especially robust increase in inti-

macy may occur during the first year firstborns leave the family

home.

Sibling Conflict

Although sibling conflict is often considered a negative aspect

of siblings’ relationship quality (along with antagonism, criti-

cism, and domineering behaviors; Adams & Laursen, 2007),

it is not particularly indicative on its own of overall relationship

negativity. Indeed, McGuire, McHale, and Updegraff (1996)

identified the presence of one common sibling relationship

typology among those in middle childhood that included simul-

taneously warm and hostile/conflictive features (endorsed by

16.5% of their sample). Therefore, given conflict’s unique role

in the sibling relationship, it should be afforded special atten-

tion separate from the broader concept of ‘‘negativity.’’

Conflict is a common feature of sibling relationships, yet

frequent conflict during childhood and adolescence (over and

above parent–child relationship features) has been shown to

be related to poor adjustment outcomes (e.g., Campione-Barr,Greer, & Kruse, 2013; Kim, McHale, Crouter, & Osgood,

2007; Stocker, Burwell, & Briggs, 2002) and social functioning

(Criss & Shaw, 2005; Dunn, 2002; Kim et al., 2007). Conflict

may also be beneficial, however, by teaching siblings effective

conflict resolution strategies (Vandell & Bailey, 1992) which

can then be applied in other relationships. It is therefore impor-

tant to develop a better understanding of the long-term implica-

tions (i.e., into adulthood) of this common aspect of sibling

relationships.

Although sibling conflict tends to decline in frequency rel-

atively steadily through adolescence (Buhrmester & Furman,

1990) and is not particularly prevalent during emerging adult-

hood (Scharf et al., 2005), Whiteman et al. (2011) found thatsibling conflict decreased at a rate more rapid than prior trajec-

tories only after firstborns actually left home. Importantly, sis-

ters experienced a slower decline in conflict than brothers did,

highlighting the fact that gender is an important contributor to

individuals’ perceptions of the sibling relationship. Similarly,

Stocker, Lanthier, and Furman (1997) found that emerging

adult dyads including at least one sister were more conflictive

than those without any females. However, despite higher levels

of conflict among these dyads, females also tend to experience

warmer sibling relationships (Stocker, Lanthier, & Furman,

1997), even during emerging adulthood (Scharf et al., 2005),

further highlighting that conflictive relationships should not

necessarily be interpreted as poor overall.

Given the prevalence and unique nature of conflict among

siblings, some researchers have examined more specific nuan-

ces of this process by differentiating between various domains

of conflict based on their content. While this has not yet been

examined among emerging adults, Campione-Barr and Sme-

tana (2010) have cross-sectionally investigated different

domains of conflict among adolescent siblings informed by a

social domain perspective (Smetana, 2013; Turiel, 2002) and

found that siblings engage in two common domains of conflict:

conflicts over personal domain invasions (e.g., borrowing with-

out permission) and socially regulated (aspects of moral and

conventional domains) issues of equality and fairness (e.g.,whose turn it is to do chores). They found that adolescent sib-

lings experienced more frequent conflicts over personal

domain invasions (compared to those involving equality and

fairness issues), and both frequent and intense (i.e., ‘‘heated’’)

conflicts of this type were related to less trust and communica-

tion within the relationship. Although there has not yet been a

confirmation of the directionality of these effects, it seems

likely that conflict may be associated with future relationship

qualities.

In a later study, Campione-Barr, Greer, and Kruse (2013)

examined longitudinal associations between these same

80 Emerging Adulthood 2(2)


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domains of conflict and emotional adjustment among adoles-

cent siblings. Using actor–partner interdependence modeling

(APIM; Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) to examine dyadic,

bidirectional associations, Campione-Barr et al. found that not

all domains of sibling conflict similarly influence adjustment,

and that, notably, many of these effects differed by ordinal

position and gender composition, exemplifying the nuanced elements of the sibling relationship that impact their percep-

tions of conflict. Generally, however, conflicts over personal

domain invasions were related to increased anxiety and lower

self-esteem 1 year later, while equality and fairness conflicts

were related to increased depressive symptoms. Campione-

Barr et al. reasoned that equality and fairness conflicts facilitate

social comparison, which according to social comparison the-

ory (Festinger, 1954) tends to result in poorer emotional adjust-

ment when the comparison is unfavorable, particularly for girls

and older siblings when feeling unfairly treated in the family

context (e.g., Shanahan, McHale, Crouter, & Osgood, 2008).

The Present Study

The current study attempted to advance Campione-Barr and

colleagues’ (2010, 2013) findings by investigating associations

between two domains of sibling conflict during firstborn ado-

lescents’ final year of high school and three aspects of sibling

relationship quality (positivity, negativity, and relative power)

the following year after moving out of their natal home to

attend college. Data were also collected from emerging adults’

next youngest siblings to examine transactional processes in

the relationship, since family systems theory recognizes that

transitions experienced by one family member challenge the

entire family system (Minuchin, 1985). Consequently, we uti-

lized APIM (Kenny et al., 2006) to investigate nuanced dyadic

explanations of these processes. Specifically, APIM allows for

examination of both ‘‘actor’’ (see Figure 1, lines a, b) and

‘‘partner’’ effects (lines c, d ). In a longitudinal context such

as ours, actor effects include associations between the Time 1

and Time 2 variables from the perspective of one dyad mem-

ber, whereas partner effects are associations between one mem-

ber’s report of the Time 1 variable and their sibling’s report of

the Time 2 variable.

Hypotheses. We first hypothesized that more frequent and

intense conflicts over personal domain invasions would be

associated with lower positivity and higher negativity 1 year later, given Campione-Barr and Smetana’s (2010) finding of

cross-sectional negative associations between this type of con-

flict and trust and communication. We expected both ‘‘actor’’

and ‘‘partner’’ effects in this context, given the interdependent

nature of family relationships.

We next expected that frequent and intense conflicts over

equality and fairness issues would be associated with greater

power differential 1 year later (both ‘‘actor’’ and ‘‘partner’’

effects) in light of previous work suggesting that this type of

conflict facilitates social comparison (Campione-Barr et al.,

2013). In this context, if one sibling consistently ‘‘wins’’ this

type of conflict, then that sibling’s dominance in the relation-

ship should increase.

It is also likely that birth order, gender, and dyad gender

composition moderate these associations. We expected that

associations would be most prevalent from the perspective of

younger siblings, since they tend to value sibling interactions

more than older siblings do (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990).

Finally, we expected females to be more sensitive to these pro-cesses than males; consequently, stronger associations should

be present in sister–sister dyads, followed by mixed-sex dyads.

It has been well established that males and females judge their

satisfaction in and closeness of their relationships differently

(e.g., Wood & Inman, 1993), and that adolescent females report

more intimate sibling relationships than males (Kim, McHale,

Osgood, & Crouter, 2006).

Method

Participants

Forty-eight sibling dyads were initially recruited, along with atleast one parent/adoptive parent, as part of a larger 4-year long-

itudinal study. For the larger study, each family in a small

Midwestern city school district with a child in 8th, 10th, or

12th grade (3,028 families) was mailed a recruitment letter, and

145 families (one parent, firstborn, and secondborn child


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We examined (separately for conflict frequency and inten-

sity, and from both siblings’ perspectives) the influence of both

domains of conflict (equality and fairness and personal domain

invasions) on sibling relationship qualities 1 year later (sepa-

rately for positivity, negativity, and relative power). While the

two conflict domains were included in each model, conflict fre-

quency and intensity were examined in separate models

because previous research has shown that they impact develop-

ment (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998) and relationships (Mon-

temayor, 1983) differently. Furthermore, Campione-Barr and

colleagues (2010, 2013) found nuanced differences between

the frequency and intensity of conflict when examining their associations with adjustment and relationship quality, further

indicating a need to examine these aspects separately.

In our models, we also examined moderating effects of sib-

ling ordinal position and the genders of both siblings. West,

Popp, and Kenny (2008) have highlighted the importance of

considering the genders of both actors and partners in APIM,

and although our sample size (45 dyads; 90 individuals) is

smaller than ideal, APIM has been successfully conducted with

samples smaller than ours, even when examining similar

higher-order moderations (e.g., Puccinelli & Tickle-Degnen,

2004). In order to examine these moderations, we initially ran

first-order models including only main effects of both domains

of conflict (frequency or intensity), then incrementally added two-way, three-way, and four-way interactions between con-

flict, both sibling genders, and ordinal position to the models

to interpret significant higher-order interactions that may be

present. Thus, we examined a total of 24 models.

Correlations Between Conflict and Relationship Qualities

Siblings’ reports of each aspect of relationship quality were

moderately to highly correlated from Time 1 to Time 2, and

negativity and relative power were correlated for older (but not

younger) siblings (see Table 1). Both aspects and domains of

conflict were significantly correlated as well, and in a few (but

not all) circumstances, conflict variables were moderately asso-

ciated with negativity. For younger siblings, the frequency and

intensity of equality and fairness conflicts were associated with

negativity at Time 2, while for older siblings, the frequency and

intensity of personal invasion conflicts were associated with

negativity at Time 2.

Longitudinal Associations Between Conflict Frequency

and Relationship Qualities

In this section of analyses, associations between conflict fre-

quency and three aspects of relationship quality 1 year later

were tested. Three separate APIM models were run: one each

for positivity, negativity, and relative power, controlling for

gender, ordinal position, age (to tease apart the effects of age

and ordinal position), and the Time 1 report of the aspect of

relationship quality being tested in order to examine effects

above and beyond any associations between Time 1 conflict

and Time 1 relationship quality (see Tables 2–4). For simpli-

city, and due to the large number of analyses, significant inter-

actions are discussed only if simple slopes analyses produced

significant findings, and significant findings with regard to

control and demographic variables will not be discussed,though they may be referenced in Tables 2–4. Further, we only

interpret the highest ordered interactions in each model, and

only those not subsumed under higher-order interactions pres-

ent in higher-order models.

Positivity. In the third-order model examining associations

between conflict frequency and positivity, there was a margin-

ally significant interaction for Partner Gender Birth Order

Actor ratings of the Frequency of Equality and Fairness Con-

flicts. Simple slopes analyses revealed that the more frequent

emerging adults with younger sisters reported conflicts over

Table 1. Correlations Among Emerging Adult and Sibling Reports of Conflict (Time 1) and Relationship Qualities (Times 1 and 2).

OlderSibling,M (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

YoungerSibling,M (SD)

1. Age (T1) 17.56 (.50) — .22 .03 .24 .03 .31* .33* .06 .06 .28* .02 .10 14.54 (1.17)2. Gender .11 — .06 .24þ .01 .14 .15 .04 .26þ .06 .18 .21

3. EF frequency 1.87 (.64) .34* .00 — .61** .94** .62** .07 .04 .30* .06 .00 .34* 1.83 (.76)4. IP frequency 1.72 ( .64) .21 .01 .56** — .65** .76** .05 .04 .26þ .17 .06 .21 1.74 (.74)5. EF intensity 1.49 ( .54) .35* .21 .74** .48** — .70** .02 .00 .24 .12 .10 .35* 1.45 (.55)6. IP intensity 1.70 (.70) .26þ .01 .67** .80** .69** — .31* .05 .22 .19 .12 .20 1.75 (.87)7. Power (T1) 1.97 (.83) .12 .03 .14 .18 .19 .11 — .17 .09 .37* .21 .22 2.94 (.97)8. Positivity (T1) 2.99 (.90) .17 .17 .07 .00 .22 .07 .22 — .28þ .09 .53** .07 3.05 ( .91)9. Negativity (T1) 2.28 (.77) .21 .05 .04 .46** .11 .34* .33* .16 — .24þ .10 .54** 2.60 ( .91)

10. Power (T2) 1.80 (.72) .05 .17 .21 .10 .12 .21 .39** .06 .30* — .01 .51** 2.71 (.90)11. Positivity (T2) 2.98 (.75) .06 .07 .03 .02 .07 .04 .12 .75** .18 .09 — .08 2.82 ( .88)12. Negativity (T2) 2.09 (.82) .30* .11 .10 .39** .23 .30** .38** .01 .79** .55** .00 — 2.45 (.77)

Note. T1 ¼ Time 1 report; T2 ¼ Time 2 report; EF ¼ equality and fairness issues; IP ¼ personal domain invasions; Frequency ¼ conflict frequency; Intensity ¼conflict intensity.Gender coded as 1 ¼ male, 0 ¼ female.Older sibling reports are on the bottom diagonal and younger sibling reports are on the top diagonal.þp < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

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equality and fairness issues, the more positively they rated their

relationship a year later (t ¼ 3.23, p < .01). This suggests that

frequent conflicts over equality and fairness issues may

actually be beneficial to siblings, at least in dyads with younger

sisters.

Negativity. In the third-order model examining associations between conflict frequency and negativity, there was a signif-

icant interaction for Actor Gender Birth Order Partner rat-

ings of the Frequency of Equality and Fairness Conflicts.

Simple slopes revealed that the more frequent younger siblings

of female emerging adults reported conflicts over equality and

fairness issues, the less negatively their older sisters rated the

relationship a year later (t ¼ 2.59, p ¼ .02).

There was also a significant interaction for Partner Gender

Birth Order Actor ratings of the Frequency of Personal

Domain Invasion Conflicts. Simple slopes revealed that the

more frequent emerging adults with younger sisters reported

conflicts over personal domain invasions, the less negativity

they reported a year later (t ¼ 3.29, p < .01).

Like the findings for positivity, these results suggest that

frequent conflicts may actually be beneficial to sibling relation-

ships in that less negativity is perceived the following year,

particularly when the dyad includes at least one sister. Specif-

ically, dyads including an older sister may be perceived as less

negative if there are frequent conflicts over equality and

fairness issues, and dyads including a younger sister may seem

less negative with more frequent conflicts over personal

domain invasions the previous year.

Relative Power. In the second-order model examining associa-

tions between conflict frequency and relative power, there wasa significant interaction for Partner Gender Actor ratings of

the Frequency of Personal Domain Invasion Conflicts. Simple

slopes revealed that the more frequent participants with broth-

ers reported conflicts over personal domain invasions, the more

power they felt their brothers had the following year (t ¼ 2.41,

p ¼ .02). This suggests that for dyads including at least one

brother, relationships characterized by frequent conflicts over

personal domain invasions may be at particular risk for becom-

ing male powered.

Longitudinal Associations Between Conflict Intensity and Relationship Qualities

In this section of analyses, associations between conflict inten-

sity and the three aspects of relationship quality 1 year later

were tested using three separate APIM models in a method

similar to those examining conflict frequency (see Tables 2–

4 for test statistics).

Positivity. In the models examining associations between conflict

intensity and positivity, there were no significant results of

interest, so no further interpretations were made.

Negativity. In the third-order model examining associations

between conflict intensity and negativity, there was a signifi-

cant interaction for Actor Gender Birth Order Partner rat-

ings of the Intensity of Equality and Fairness Conflicts. Simple

slopes revealed that the more intense younger siblings of

female emerging adults reported conflicts over equality and

fairness issues, the lower negativity their older sisters reported a year later (t ¼ 2.40, p ¼ .02).

Additionally, there was a significant interaction for Partner

Gender Birth Order Actor ratings of the Intensity of Equal-

ity and Fairness Conflicts. Simple slopes revealed that the less

intense emerging adults with younger sisters reported conflicts

over equality and fairness issues, the lower negativity they

reported a year later (t ¼ 3.04, p ¼ .01).

Finally, there was a significant interaction for Partner Gen-

der Birth Order Actor ratings of the Intensity of Personal

Domain Invasion Conflicts. Simple slopes revealed that the

more intense emerging adults with younger sisters rated

conflicts over personal domain invasions, the less negativity

they reported a year later (t ¼ 2.17, p ¼ .04).These findings suggest several nuanced patterns, particu-

larly for dyads including a sister. While more intense conflicts

over equality and fairness issues as reported by younger sib-

lings with older sisters are related to lower reports of negativity

from older sisters, for older siblings with younger sisters, it is

rather less intense conflicts of this type that are related to less

negativity. In contrast, for these older siblings with younger

sisters, more intense conflicts over personal domain invasions

are actually related to less negativity the next year. Therefore,

it seems that later negativity is differentially associated with the

ordinal position of sisters, as well as conflict domain when con-

sidering conflict intensity.

Relative Power. In the second-order model examining associa-

tions between conflict intensity and relative power, there was

a significant interaction for Birth Order Actor ratings of the

Intensity of Personal Domain Invasion Conflicts. Simple slopes

revealed that the more intense older siblings rated conflicts

over personal domain invasions, the more power they felt they

had the following year (t ¼ 2.88, p ¼ .01).

In the third-order model, there was a marginally significant

interaction for Actor Gender Partner Gender Partner rat-

ings of the Intensity of Equality and Fairness Conflicts. Simple

slopes indicated that the more intense sisters with brothers

rated conflicts over equality and fairness issues, the less power their brothers perceived the following year (t ¼ 2.47, p ¼ .02).

Finally, in the fourth-order model, there was a significant

interaction for Actor Sex Partner Sex Birth Order Actor

ratings of the Intensity of Equality and Fairness Conflicts. Sim-

ple slopes revealed that the more intense younger sisters of

female emerging adults reported conflicts over equality and

fairness issues, the more power they felt their older sisters had

a year later (t ¼ 2.27, p ¼ .03), and that the more intense female

emerging adults with younger sisters reported conflicts over

equality and fairness issues, the more power they felt their

younger sisters had a year later (t ¼ 2.04, p ¼ .05). Finally, the

Lindell et al. 87




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more intense younger brothers of female emerging adults rated

these types of conflicts, the more power they felt they had 1

year later (t ¼ 2.22, p ¼ .04).

Taken together, these results indicate that, similar to fre-

quent conflicts, intense conflicts over equality and fairness

issues may be an effective method of increasing one’s power

within the sibling relationship, especially in dyads includingat least one sister. Additionally, intense conflicts over personal

domain invasions may facilitate more power within the

relationship for older siblings.

Discussion

The present study examined older and younger siblings’

perceptions of their conflicts and other relationship qualities

during an important developmental event: firstborns’ transi-

tions to college. We were interested in associations between

two aspects (frequency and intensity) and domains (equality

and fairness, personal domain invasions) of conflict and threefacets of relationship quality (positivity, negativity, and rela-

tive power) the following year. Although sibling conflict is in

itself an aspect of sibling relationship quality, our data indi-

cated that conflict was not necessarily indicative of overall

relationship negativity, suggesting an important distinction

between these two concepts consistent with McGuire et al.

(1996). In general support of our hypotheses, our results

indicated sibling conflict is related to later relationship quality

during this transition (over and above the quality of the rela-

tionship at Time 1), though these associations differed based

on the aspect and content/domain of the conflicts, the aspect

of relationship quality investigated, and structural features of

the relationship.Our findings advance the study of sibling relationships in

several important ways. Currently, relatively little is known

about emerging adult sibling relationships, and even less is

known about this relationship during the transition to emerging

adulthood (e.g., Whiteman et al., 2011). The present study is

the first to our knowledge that has directly examined how sib-

ling conflict and relationship quality are associated across this

transition, and many of our findings indicate several processes

that appear to be unique to this developmental period, particu-

larly among sibling dyads that include at least one sister.

Importantly, our findings suggest that sibling conflict during

late adolescence may have some beneficial implications for the

long-term functioning of the relationship.

Key Findings

We expected that more frequent and intense conflicts would be

associated with lower positivity, higher negativity, and less

egalitarian relationships 1 year later, given previous research

(Campione-Barr & Smetana, 2010) that has found cross-

sectional associations between these constructs during the ado-

lescent years. Our hypotheses were only somewhat supported,

however, indicating that there might be something unique

about the transition to college that upsets these prior patterns.

While Campione-Barr and Smetana (2010) found conflicts

over personal domain invasions to be associated with lower

trust and communication among adolescent siblings, our results

suggest that during the transition to college, both frequent and

intense conflicts over these issues were actually associated with

less negative relationships once older siblings moved away to

college. Similarly, we found that more frequent conflicts over equality and fairness issues were typically associated with less

negative and more positive relationships over time. (Note that

while the interaction for positivity was only marginal, the sim-

ple slope for emerging adults with younger sisters was highly

significant.) Given these findings, it may be that siblings who

previously struggled over such issues while living together now

view their relationship in a more positive light simply by

getting a ‘‘break’’ from living with one another.

Importantly, however, among dyads including a younger

sister, intense conflicts over equality and fairness issues were

related to more negative relationships the following year, indi-

cating that we should still be cautious about the role sibling

conflict plays during this developmental transition. It is possi- ble that as younger siblings strive to gain more autonomy and

perceived maturity during adolescence, they may push back

more intensely against their older siblings to gain a more equal

role in the relationship. Our findings suggest that older siblings

may not yet be comfortable with their younger siblings (sisters

particularly) approaching their level of independence, maturity,

and power within the family. This provides further evidence of

the importance of considering the content of sibling conflict, as

well as conflict frequency and intensity separately, as they do

appear to differentially impact relationships during this devel-

opmental transition.

Most of the associations we found between conflict and

relationship qualities were present in sibling dyads that included

at least one sister. Previous research has highlighted that females

tend to report more intimacy and warmth in the sibling relation-

ship during both adolescence (Kim et al., 2006) and emerging

adulthood (Scharf et al., 2005), and our findings add another

important piece to this conversation. Specifically, conflict within

these dyads was typically related to better relationships once sib-

lings no longer lived together year round. It may be that relation-

ships including sisters are uniquely immune to some detrimental

effects of conflict in that these dyads’ relationships do not appear

to suffer despite the presence of conflict and that conflict may

actually benefit their relationship over and above the prior qual-

ity of their relationship. This is particularly encouraging, giventhe important positive implications sisters have on their siblings’

well-being later in adulthood (Cicirelli, 1995).

Our results generally support the notion that during the tran-

sition to college, some topics of sibling conflict may actually

play a protective role within the relationship. Previous research

has suggested that sibling conflict increases social competence

(Howe & Recchia, 2008; Vandell & Bailey, 1992), so perhaps

with more conflict experience (especially by the end of adoles-

cence), siblings are capable of more enriching and satisfactory

relationships despite their squabbles. Although the siblings in

the present study reported relatively low frequencies and





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intensities of conflict, the presence of at least some conflict

does appear to facilitate more positive and less negative rela-

tionships across this transition.

Importantly, conflicts over equality and fairness issues in

particular may help promote the development of more egalitar-

ian sibling relationships, as indicated by our finding that

younger brothers who report more intense conflicts over theseissues actually perceive more power within their relationship

once their older sisters leave home. This finding is encoura-

ging, given that achieving a relatively egalitarian sibling

relationship is an important task of emerging adulthood (Aqui-

lino, 2006). However, not all conflicts appear to assist such a

task, as evidenced by our finding that more intense conflicts

over personal domain invasions were associated with older

siblings’ perceptions of more power the following year, main-

taining the power imbalances typical of earlier years (Perlman

et al., 2000). In such families where this type of conflict is

common, it may be helpful for parents to encourage sibling dei-

dentification (Feinberg, McHale, Crouter, & Cumsille, 2003;

Schachter, Shore, Feldman-Rotman, Marquis, & Campbell,1976), the process through which siblings actively pursue

different domains of their lives to minimize competition and,

thereby, conflict. By forging their own paths, younger siblings

might be less interested in invading their older siblings’

personal domain, perhaps facilitating an appropriately egalitar-

ian relationship during emerging adulthood.

Limitations and Contributions

Although the present study advances the study of emerging adult

sibling relationships in important ways, future research should

address some key limitations of thisstudy. First, the SiblingIssues

Checklist (Campione-Barr & Smetana, 2010) was developed

based on pilot data from sixth to ninth graders, a sample younger

than those examined here, so future research on older adolescents

and emerging adults should investigate other potential sources of

conflict. Additionally, it does not ask siblings to report who

initiates conflicts. While older siblings tend to be the aggressors

earlier in childhood (Vandell & Bailey, 1992), this pattern is less

clear later on when younger siblings are more capable of standing

their ground. Although we speculate that younger siblings would

be more likely to invade the personal domain of their older

siblings than vice versa (i.e., ‘‘tagging along’’ with their older

sibling), our data cannot confirm these patterns.

Most of our participants were White and middle- to upper-middle class, and sibling relationships among other groups may

follow a different course than our study suggests. Further, all

firstborn participants left home to attend college, but not every-

one attends college, and of those who do, many live at home

while doing so. Indeed, Whiteman et al. (2011) illustrated that

family relationships only improve during the transition to

college if the firstborn child actually moves out of the family

home. Future work should examine whether the same processes

highlighted in the present study also apply when the oldest does

not move away for college or pursues alternative paths, and

among minority and low socioeconomic status families.

Finally, although we found support for several important

moderations with regard to sibling ordinal position and gender

that were consistent with previous research highlighting the

unique perceptions of females (Kim et al., 2006) and younger

siblings (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990), our sample was some-

what small. Although similar analyses have been successfully

conducted in previous literature with samples even smaller thanours (e.g., Puccinelli & Tickle-Degnen, 2004), future research

examining larger samples of dyads is needed to replicate and

confirm the presence of these moderations.

Despite these limitations, the present study offers several

important contributions to the study of sibling relationships.

Because of the transactional nature of sibling relationships,

we utilized APIM (Kenny et al., 2006) to capture both actor and

partner effects in associations between sibling conflict and rela-

tionship qualities during this developmental transition. Our

data indicated several significant partner effects that would

have otherwise gone unnoticed, indicating that the perception

of one sibling is often related to the perceptions of the other

across time. We also identified important gender differences,highlighting that this contributes to many aspects of sibling

relationships.

While a growing body of research continues to examine

sibling relationships during childhood and adolescence, the

emerging adult years also appear to be particularly important.

For the first time, the relationship is relatively voluntary and

not exclusively enforced by parents, so siblings have the oppor-

tunity to develop their relationship on a new level in prepara-

tion for their relationship as adults. By understanding how

sibling relationships evolve during this developmental period,

we might gain a better understanding of how earlier years setup

siblings for enriching familial relationships during adulthood.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to

the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the

research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is

supported by the University of Missouri-Columbia Research Council

(URC-10-094) and the University of Missouri System Research Board

(RB-08-025).

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Author Biographies

Anna K. Lindell is a doctoral student in the developmental

psychology area of the Department of Psychological Sciences

at the University of Missouri. Her primary research interests

are family relationships during adolescence and emergingadulthood.

Nicole Campione-Barr is an assistant professor in the devel-

opmental psychology area of the Department of Psychological

Sciences at the University of Missouri. Her primary research

interests are adolescents’ relationships with parents and

siblings.

Kelly Bassett Greer is a recent doctoral graduate in develop-

mental psychology from the Department of Psychological

Sciences at the University of Missouri. Her primary research

interests include adolescent sibling and family relationships.

Lindell et al. 91
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