The Emerging Adults’ Relationships with Siblings Scale: Development and Validation

Abstract

The current study reports on a new measure of sibling relationship quality, the Emerging Adults’ Relationships with Siblings Scale (EARSS), which was developed via one qualitative study (Study 1: M Age = 21.20, SD = 2.07, 71% female, N = 45) and two quantitative studies (Study 2: M Age = 25.70, SD = 2.98, 68% female, N = 990; Study 3: M Age = 25.42, SD = 2.53, 55% female, N = 865). Results from these studies yielded a measure of sibling relationships during emerging adulthood that included five confirmed factors: Closeness, Conflict, Ill-Wishes, Parent-Mediated Relationship, and Upward Comparison. Overall, the factors of the EARSS were shown to be internally consistent and demonstrated strong convergent and divergent validity. Compared with previous measures, the EARSS provides an efficient, broad measure of sibling relationship quality relevant to the experiences of emerging adults, and assesses positive and negative dimensions of sibling relationship quality.