IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v11y2018i2d10.1007_s12187-017-9448-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quality Matters: Sibling Relationships and Friendship Nominations among Adolescents

Author

Listed:
  • Deniz Yucel

    (William Paterson University of New Jersey)

  • Donna Bobbitt-Zeher

    (Ohio State University)

  • Douglas B. Downey

    (Ohio State University)

Abstract

Several recent studies suggest that individuals exhibit better social skills if raised with siblings. This pattern has been demonstrated among kindergartners and adults, but oddly is inconsistent among adolescents. Analyzing 1662 youths from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we replicate what others have found—no association between number of siblings and number of friendship nominations received by peers. But we expand on previous research by merging structuralist approaches (focusing primarily on number of siblings) and interactional (emphasizing relationship quality) traditions. We find clear evidence that positive sibling relationships are associated with more peer nominations. This study contributes to growing evidence that sibling relationships shape individuals’ ability to form and maintain relationships with others outside of the family. It also explains why the relationship between number of siblings and social outcomes is not evident during the adolescent years—a period when interactional components of sibship may outweigh structural ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Deniz Yucel & Donna Bobbitt-Zeher & Douglas B. Downey, 2018. "Quality Matters: Sibling Relationships and Friendship Nominations among Adolescents," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(2), pages 523-539, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9448-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9448-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-017-9448-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-017-9448-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9448-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.