Determining the Influence of Sibling Relationships on Current Romantic Relationships

Although sibling relationships are potentially the longest relationship a person will experience (Bank & Kahn , 1997) , researchers know relatively little about the role of sibling relationships in youth development in comparison to research on parent-child relationships (Deater-Deckard , et al. , 2002). Previous research has emphasized the importance of understanding sibling relationships throughout the transition to adulthood , and how romantic relationships are incorporated into an emerging adult's social sphere (Conger & Little , 2010). Utilizing secondary data analysis on a sample of emerging adults (N=540) , the current study aimed to determine the influence of sibling relationships on current romantic relationships. Sibling relationship quality in emerging adults was not found to be a significant predictor of romantic relationship quality. Participant sex , sibling sex constellation , and birth order were explored as potential moderators. Participant sex emerged as a moderator of this relationship. For males , romantic relationship quality increases as sibling relationship quality increases. For females , romantic relationship quality decreases as sibling relationship quality increases