Sibling relationships and best friendships in young adulthood: Warmth, conflict, and well-being

Although much work addresses the importance of siblings and friendships in separate investigations, few studies simultaneously examine both relationships. Young adults (N = 102, M age = 18.7) were surveyed about their friendships, their sibling relationships, and their psychological well-being (assessed by self-esteem and loneliness). Participants with harmonious (high warmth, low conflict) sibling relations and same-gender friends had the highest well-being. Participants with affect-intense (high warmth, high conflict) sibling relationships had low well-being. However, participants who had low-involved (low warmth, low conflict) and affect-intense same-gender friendships did not differ in well-being. When examining joint effects, having a harmonious same-gender friendship compensated for having a low-involved sibling relationship, but having harmonious sibling relations did not compensate for having low-involved friendships. Overall, the results underscore the importance of positive and negative relationship properties and the joint effects of multiple relationships. Copyright © 2006 IARR.

Duke Scholars

Author Jennifer Lansford Sanford School of Public Policy