Siblings as a Fixture of Social Support for American Emerging Adult College Students

Sibling relationships play a critical role in development for most people, and sibships are some of the few relationships that generally endure throughout the lifespan. Despite this significance, there is limited research regarding the various functions that siblings may serve at different times in a person's life. The present study sought to bridge this gap in the research by evaluating three significant relationships (parent, peer, and sibling) and overall social support in relation to the psychological wellbeing of college students, primarily recruited via emails to instructors of undergraduate human development courses. It was expected that sibling attachment (measured by communication, trust, and alienation) and sibling relationship quality (SRQ; measured by warmth and conflict) would have independent and significant associations with symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety after parent/peer attachments and social support were controlled. Although previous literature has cited the strong influence of parent attachments throughout the lifespan, it was hypothesized that increased peer importance around emerging adulthood combined with decreased peer interaction surrounding COVID-19 would allow sibship to stand apart as a fixture of support beyond other significant relationships. Results indicated significant correlations among parent, peer, and sibling attachments, and SRQ. Hierarchical regression analyses, however, revealed little or no additional variance in wellbeing with the addition of SRQ, sibling attachment, peer attachment, or social support. Parent attachment contributed significantly to each model. Future directions encourage thorough analyses of features in emerging adults' significant relationships as a method of defining the precise role of sibships while comparing them with other close relationships.