A total of 321 young adult sibling dyads (104 male-female, 108 male-male, and 109 female-female)
and 131 singletons completed a set of questionnaires examining the sibling relationship
from an attachment perspective. Four central research findings are presented: First, attachment
to sibling was significantly correlated with parenting, adult attachment self-model, satisfaction
with social support, frequency of contact, and personality traits. Specifically, increased
independence encouragement and acceptance by parents, decreased maternal rivalry, a more
positive self-model, larger and more satisfying social support networks, and greater frequency of
contact between siblings were related to greater quality of attachment to sibling. Also, higher
levels of NEO Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Emotional Stability were
positively correlated with attachment to sibling. Second, there was considerable reciprocity in
the attachment relationship for all pair types (r = .58) indicating that siblings' ratings of the
quality of their attachment to each other tend to correspond quite highly. Third, more positive
self- and other-models were related to increased ratings of positive relationship variables such as
affection, emotional support, and satisfaction, and decreased ratings of negative relationship
variables such as antagonism, quarreling and alienation. Fourth, concordance rates in attachment
self- and other-models were very low, indicating that siblings do not resemble each other in the
attachment dimensions. However, siblings appear to describe each other's attachment models
relatively accurately, and perceive themselves as having similar self- and other-models to their
siblings. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical advancements for attachment theory and
the sibling literature, and practical implications for fostering positive sibling relationships.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11111 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Brussoni, Mariana Jose |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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