The Impact of Sibling Relationships on Later-Life Psychological and Subjective Well-Being

Abstract

Previous research indicates the importance of having high levels of attachment with parents in order to realise positive outcomes of psychological and subjective well-being in later-life. Additionally, sibling attachment in childhood may impact future psychological and subjective well-being directly and independently from parental influences. To our knowledge, there is no existing study that examines the moderating role of sibling attachment on the association between parental attachment and later-life well-being. Participants (n = 254) were asked to retrospectively rate their attachments to their parents and the sibling closest in age to them. Additionally, they completed self-report questionnaires probing current levels of depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life. The expected significant relationships between childhood attachments and later-life well-being were found for maternal and sibling attachments, but not paternal attachment. Furthermore, retrospectively-rated sibling attachment seemed to be a stronger predictor of later-life well-being than paternal attachment. Taken together, these findings indicate the importance of early-life attachment figures on future well-being. Furthermore, these findings concur with the general propositions of attachment theory, arguing that experiences with attachment figures during childhood heavily shape an individual’s developmental trajectory and their internal working models about the self, others, and the world. However, sibling attachment was not found to moderate the relationship between parental attachment and later-life psychological and subjective well-being. Speculative explanations as to why a moderating effect was not found include limited sibling resources, innate attachment effects, and contrast effects.