Following in your sibling’s steps: Sibling influence and young adults’ marital attitudes

Abstract

This study explored the role of sibling modeling and differentiation in young adults’ beliefs about marriage and expectation of marriage in reference to their perception of their closest aged sibling’s marital centrality. Siblings play an important role in socialization, yet their role in young adulthood, and in relation to attitudes about marriage, has received limited attention. Marriage is an important aspect of development for young adults; therefore, this study specifically examined the role of sibling modeling and differentiation in young adults’ formation of expectation of marriage and marital centrality. Data came from 1,258 unmarried young adults (age 18–29 years) from across the U.S. ( M = 25.02; SD = 2.60; 47% female). Models for marital centrality were tested using hierarchical ordinary least squares regression, and models for the expectation of marriage were examined using binary logistic regression. Findings revealed that siblings’ beliefs and expectations to marry were more closely related in conditions of high modeling. For those with only one sibling, greater differentiation was linked to less similarity between siblings’ marital centrality. Siblings therefore may play an important role in young adults’ expectation of marriage and beliefs about marital centrality.