The Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors and Relational Characteristics Among Sibling Types

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to apply Gold's (1989) typology of sibling relationships to the study of adult-sibling use of relational maintenance behaviors and perceptions of relational characteristics. Participants were 196 adults who targeted a sibling whose birthday was closest to their own and completed a series of instruments in reference to the targeted sibling. It was found that whether individuals classified their sibling relationships as intimate, congenial, loyal, or apathetic/hostile was reflected in their self-reported use of relational maintenance behaviors, their perceptions of their targeted siblings' use of relational maintenance behaviors with them, and their perceptions of the relational characteristics associated with the sibling relationship.

Keywords:

• Sibling Relationships
• Typology of Sibling Relationships
• Relational Maintenance Behaviors
• Relational Characteristics

Notes

Myers and Goodboy (2010) reported a sample size of 606 adult siblings. Of these 606 participants, 176 identified their sibling relationship as intimate, 269 identified their sibling relationship as congenial, 132 identified their sibling relationship as loyal, 22 identified their sibling relationship as apathetic, and 7 identified their sibling relationship as hostile. Due to the low number of identified apathetic and hostile sibling types, they chose to combine the two categories in their data analysis.

Goodboy et al. (2009) reported a sample size of 193 adult siblings, with 65 participants identifying their relationships as intimate, 80 participants identifying their relationships as congenial, 39 participants identifying their relationships as loyal, 5 participants identifying their relationships as apathetic, and 4 participants identifying their relationship as hostile. Due to the low number of identified apathetic and hostile sibling types, they elected to exclude these two types from their data analysis.

Commitment is considered to be a psychological attachment through which an individual intends to remain indefinitely in a relationship (Canary & Stafford, 1994), trust is considered to be the feelings of honest and benevolence an individual associates with another person (Larzelere & Huston, 1980), communication satisfaction is considered to be the positive affect associated with a communicative event that fulfilled an individual's expectations (Hecht, 1978), relational satisfaction is considered to be the favorable attitude an individual holds about the quality of a relationship (Dainton et al., 1994), liking is considered to be the favorable evaluation and respect an individual holds about another individual (Rubin, 1970), and loving is considered to be feelings of exclusiveness and affiliation an individual experiences with another individual (Rubin, 1970).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Scott A. Myers

Scott A. Myers, PhD, is a Professor and PhD Graduate Studies Coordinator in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.

Kelly G. Odenweller

Kelly G. Odenweller is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.