The Relative Impacts of Sibling Relationships on Adolescent Body Perceptions

Abstract

The sibling relationship is the longest relationship of the life course and has been found to influence youth adjustment (Dunn, 2002). Given that adolescence is a time of increased body awareness, the authors examined the potential role of siblings’ body conceptions and sibling relationship quality on adolescent body conceptions. In a sample of 101 predominantly White, middle-class adolescent sibling dyads, the authors found that positive sibling relationship quality was associated with higher physical self-worth in adolescents, but that this differed by sibling gender and sibling physical self-worth. Alternatively, negative sibling relationship quality was associated with lower physical self-worth for adolescents, but differed based on birth order, sibling physical self-worth, and adolescent gender.

Keywords:

• Siblings
• body esteem
• adolescence

Acknowledgments

Baylee Francka, Anna K. Lindell, and Nicole Campione-Barr were all in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri at the time this research was conducted. The authors would like to thank the Columbia Public School District and the many families who participated in this research, as well as the undergraduate research assistants for their participation with family recruitment and data entry. The authors are grateful to Sarah Killoren for reading and editing earlier drafts of the manuscript. Finally, the authors thank the University of Missouri Research Board and Research Council for their support of this research. Baylee A. also acknowledges the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program and the Cherng Scholars Program at the University of Missouri.