8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
1/14
http://eax.sagepub.com/ Emerging Adulthood
http://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79The online version of this article can be found at:
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
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
On behalf of:
Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood
can be found at:Emerging Adulthood Additional services and information for
http://eax.sagepub.com/cgi/alertsEmail Alerts:
http://eax.sagepub.com/subscriptionsSubscriptions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navPermissions:
What is This?
- Sep 5, 2013OnlineFirst Version of Record
- Apr 30, 2014Version of Record>>
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79http://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.ssea.org/http://eax.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://eax.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://eax.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://eax.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://eax.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/09/04/2167696813502778.full.pdfhttp://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79.full.pdfhttp://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79.full.pdfhttp://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://eax.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/09/04/2167696813502778.full.pdfhttp://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79.full.pdfhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://eax.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://eax.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://www.ssea.org/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/content/2/2/79http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
2/14
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
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2167696813502778
ea.sagepub.com
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://ea.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://ea.sagepub.com/http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
3/14
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)
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
4/14
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
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
5/14
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
6/14
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.
Lindell et al. 83
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
7/14
http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
8/14
http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
9/14
http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
10/14
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
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
11/14
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
88 Emerging Adulthood 2(2)
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
12/14
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).
ReferencesAdams, R. E., & Laursen, B. (2007). The correlates of conflict:
Disagreement is not necessarily detrimental. Journal of Family
Psychology, 21, 445–458. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.21.3.445
Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in
emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging
adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp.
193–217). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
doi:10.1037/11381-008
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development
from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist ,
55, 469–480. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.5.469
Lindell et al. 89
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
13/14
Brody, G. H. (1998). Sibling relationship quality: Its causes and con-
sequences. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 1–24. doi:10.1146/
annurev.psych.49.1.1
Brody, G. H. (2004). Siblings’ direct and indirect contributions to
child development. Current Directions in Psychological Science,
13, 124–126. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00289.x
Buhrmester, D., & Furman, W. (1990). Perceptions of sibling relation-ships during middle childhood and adolescence. Child Develop-
ment , 61, 1387–1398. doi:10.2307/113075
Campione-Barr, N., Greer, K. B., & Kruse, A. (2013). Differential
associations between domains of sibling conflict and adolescent
emotional adjustment. Child Development , 84, 938–954. doi:10.
1111/cdev.12022
Campione-Barr, N., & Smetana, J. G. (2010). ‘‘Who said you can wear
my sweater?’’ Adolescent siblings’ conflicts and associations with
relationship quality. Child Development , 81, 464–471. doi:10.
1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01407.x
Cicirelli, V. G. (1995). Sibling relationships across the life span. New
York, NY: Plenum.
Conger, K. J., & Little, W. M. (2010). Sibling relationships during thetransition to adulthood. Child Development Perspectives, 4, 87–94.
doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00123.x
Cox, M. J. (2010). Family systems and family relationships. Child
Development Perspectives, 4, 95–96. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.
2010.00124.x
Criss, M. M., & Shaw, D. S. (2005). Sibling relationships as contexts
for delinquency training in low-income families. Journal of Family
Psychology, 19, 592–600. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.19.4.592
Dunn, J. (2002). Sibling relationships. In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart
(Eds.), Blackwell handbook of childhood social development (pp.
223–237). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Feinberg, M. E., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Cumsille, P. (2003).
Sibling differentiation: Sibling and parent relationship trajectories
in adolescence. Child Development , 74, 1261–1274. doi:10.1111/
1467-8624.00606
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human
Relations, 7 , 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202
Furman, W. (1996). The measurement of friendship perceptions:
Conceptual and methodological issues. In W. M. Bukowski, A.
F. Newcomb & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), The company they keep:
Friendship in childhood and adolescence (pp. 41–65). New York,
NY: Cambridge University Press.
Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1985). Children’s perceptions of the
personal relationships in their social networks. Developmental Psy-
chology, 21, 1016–1024. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.6.1016Howe, N., & Recchia, H. E. (2008). Siblings and sibling rivalry. In M.
M. Haith & J. B. Benson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of infant and early
childhood development (Vol. 3, pp. 154–164). San Diego, CA:
Academic Press.
Kenny, D. A., Kashy, D. A., & Cook, W. L. (2006). Dyadic data anal-
ysis. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Kim, J.-Y., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Osgood, D. (2007).
Longitudinal linkages between sibling relationships and adjust-
ment from middle childhood through adolescence. Developmental
Psychology, 43, 960–973. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.960
Kim, J.-Y., McHale, S. M., Osgood, D. W., & Crouter, A. C. (2006).
Longitudinal course and family correlates of sibling relationships
from childhood through adolescence. Child Development , 77 ,
1746–1761.
Kloep, M., & Hendry, L. B. (2010). Letting go or holding on? Parents’
perceptions of their relationships with their children during emer-
ging adulthood. British Journal of Developmental Psychology
, 28
,817–834. doi:10.1348/026151009X480581
Laursen, B., Coy, K. C., & Collins, W. A. (1998). Reconsidering
changes in parent-child conflict across adolescence: A meta-anal-
ysis. Child Development , 69, 817–832. doi:10.2307/1132206
McGuire, S., McHale, S. M., & Updegraff, K. (1996). Children’s
perceptions of the sibling relationship in middle childhood:
Connections within and between family relationships. Personal
Relationships, 3, 229–239.
McHale, S. M., Kim, J.-Y., & Whiteman, S. D. (2006). Sibling rela-
tionships in childhood and adolescence. In P. Noller & J. A. Feeney
(Eds.), Close relationships: Functions, forms and processes (pp.
127–149). Hove, England: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
Minuchin, P. (1985). Families and individual development: Provoca-tions from the field of family therapy. Child Development , 56 ,
289–302. doi:10.2307/1129720
Montemayor, R. (1983). Parents and adolescents in conflict: All
families some of the time and some families most of the time.
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 3, 83–103. doi:10.1177/
027243168331007
Padilla-Walker, L. M., Harper, J. M., & Jensen, A. C. (2010). Self-
regulation as a mediator between sibling relationship quality and
early adolescents’ positive and negative outcomes. Journal of
Family Psychology, 24, 419–428. doi:10.1037/a0020387
Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Nelson, L. J. (2012). Black hawk down?:
Establishing helicopter parenting as a distinct construct from
other forms of parental control during emerging adulthood. Jour-
nal of Adolescence, 35, 1177–1190. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.
2012.03.007
Padilla-Walker, L. M., Nelson, L. J., & Carroll, J. S. (2012). Affording
emerging adulthood: Parental financial assistance of their college-
aged children. Journal of Adult Development , 19, 50–58. doi:10.
1007/s10804-011-9134-y
Perlman, M., Siddiqui, A., Ram, A., & Ross, H. S. (2000). An analysis
of sources of power in children’s conflict interactions. In R. S. L.
Mills & S. Duck (Eds.), The developmental psychology of personal
relationships (pp. 155–174). New York, NY: John Wiley.
Puccinelli, N. M., & Tickle-Degnen, L. (2004). Knowing too much
about others: Moderators of the relationship between eavesdrop- ping and rapport in social interaction. Journal of Nonverbal Beha-
vior , 28, 223–243. doi:10.1037/t01087-000
Schachter, F. F., Shore, E., Feldman-Rotman, S., Marquis, R. E., &
Campbell, S. (1976). Sibling deidentification. Developmental
Psychology, 12, 418–427. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.12.5.418
Schafer, J. L. (1997). Analysis of incomplete multivariate data.
London, England: Chapman & Hall.
Scharf, M., Shulman, S., & Avigad-Spitz, L. (2005). Sibling relation-
ships in emerging adulthood and adolescence. Journal of Adoles-
cent Research, 20, 64–90. doi:10.1177/0743558404271133
90 Emerging Adulthood 2(2)
by Alina Ciucas on June 19, 2014eax.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/http://eax.sagepub.com/
8/19/2019 Emerging Adulthood 2014 Lindell 79 91
14/14
Shanahan, L., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Osgood, D. W. (2008).
Linkages between parents’ differential treatment, youth depressive
symptoms, and sibling relationships. Journal of Marriage and
Family, 70, 480–494. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00495.x
Shortt, J. W., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Closeness in young adult
sibling relationships: Affective and physiological processes.
Social Development ,
6 , 142–164. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.1997.tb00099.x
Smetana, J. G. (2013). Moral development: The social domain theory
view. In P. Zelazo (Ed.), Oxford handbook of developmental
psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 832–866). New York, NY: Oxford Univer-
sity Press.
Stocker, C. M., Burwell, R. A., & Briggs, M. L. (2002). Sibling con-
flict in middle childhood predicts children’s adjustment in early
adolescence. Journal of Family Psychology, 16 , 50–57. doi:10.
1037//0893-3200.16.1.50
Stocker, C. M., Lanthier, R. P., & Furman, W. (1997). Sibling
relationships in early adulthood. Journal of Family Psychology,
11, 210–221. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.11.2.210
Turiel, E. (2002). The culture of morality: Social development, context,and conflict . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statis-
tics. (2011). Table 213: Enrollment rates of 18- to 24-year-olds in
degree-granting institutions, by level of institution and sex and
race/ethnicity of student: 1967 through 2010. In U. S. Department
of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Ed.), Digest
of education statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pro-
grams/digest/d11/tables/dt11_213.asp
Vandell, D. L., & Bailey, M. D. (1992). Conflicts between siblings. In
C. U. Shantz & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), Conflict in child and adoles-
cent development (pp. 242–269). New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press.
West, T. V., Popp, D., & Kenny, D. A. (2008). A guide for the esti-
mation of gender and sexual orientation effects in dyadic data:
An actor-partner interdependence model approach. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 321–336. doi:10.1177/
0146167207311199
Whiteman, S. D., McHale, S. M., & Crouter, A. C. (2011). Family
relationships from adolescence to early adulthood: Changes in thefamily system following firstborns’ leaving home. Journal of
Research on Adolescence, 21, 461–474. doi:10.1111/j.1532-
7795.2010.00683.x
Wood, J. T., & Inman, C. C. (1993). In a different mode: Masculine
styles of communicating closeness. Journal of Applied Communi-
cation Research, 21, 279–295. doi:10.1080/00909889309365372
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
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_213.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_213.asphttp://eax.sagepub.com/http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_213.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_213.aspTop Related