Risk and Protective Effects of Sibling Relationships Among African American Adolescents

• Author: Anna R. Soli,Susan M. McHale,Mark E. Feinberg
• Date: 01 December 2009
• Published date: 01 December 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2009.00576.x

ANNA R. SOLI,SUSAN M. MCHALE,* AND MARK E. FEINBERG**

The Pennsylvania State University

Risk and Protective Effects of Sibling Relationships

Among African American Adolescents

This study investigated associations between sib-

ling relationships and adjustment among 179

African American adolescent siblings (control-

ling for family factors) and tested moderating

effects of familism values and birth order. Two-

level random intercept models revealed that

familism values moderated sibling relationship-

adjustment linkages, suggesting that youth who

reported both strong familism values and harmo-

nious sibling relationships showed the most pos-

itive outcomes. These effects were more consis-

tent for older than for younger siblings. Findings

highlight the role of cultural values and birth

order in shaping sibling influence processes.

Siblings are a central part of adolescents’ lives.

In the mid-1990s, nearly 90% of youth in the

United States lived with a sibling (Hernandez,

1997), and a growing body of evidence suggests

that sibling relationships may have important

implications for youth adjustment (Branje, van

Lieshout, van Aken, & Haselager, 2004; Kim,

McHale, Crouter, & Osgood, 2007; Stocker,

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

The Pennsylvania State University, S-113 Henderson

Building, University Park, PA 16802 (ars293@psu.edu).

*Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

The Pennsylvania State University, 605 Oswald, University

Park, PA 16802.

**The Prevention Research Center, University Park, PA

16802.

Key Words: adolescence, African American culture,

familism, family relationships, siblings, values.

Burwell, & Briggs, 2002). Understanding sib-

ling influence processes is important because

the sibling relationship is a clear target for

interventions and may be a useful entry point

for inducing positive change in youths’ behav-

ior and adjustment (e.g., Kramer, 2004). Most

research on the risk and protective effects of

sibling relationships, however, has been con-

ducted with European and European American

populations. We know little about sibling rela-

tionships among African Americans, a cultural

group with generally strong family values (Hill,

2007; Sudarkasa, 1980) that may be particularly

well served by programs that target sibling rela-

tionships. In addition, it is important to examine

the role of contextual factors, such as birth order

and cultural values, in shaping sibling influ-

ence processes (Updegraff, McHale, Whiteman,

Thayer, & Delgado, 2005). In this study, we

investigated the links between sibling warmth,

relational aggression, and hostility and both pos-

itive and negative youth adjustment in a sample

of African American adolescents. We also exam-

ined whether these links were conditioned by

youth’s familism values and birth order.

Sibling Relationship Qualities and Adolescent

Adjustment

A comprehensive view of psychosocial adjust-

ment in adolescence includes attention to both

positive and negative domains of adjustment.

Past research has shown that risky behavior

(e.g., delinquency, substance use) and internal-

izing symptoms (e.g., depression) are two key

578 Family Relations 58 (December 2009): 578 – 592