Our search of the 1990 – 2011 psychological and sociological abstracts for “sibling and relation or relationships,” for example, yielded 741 citations. In the face of their ubiquity and potential for influence, however, sibling relationships have been relatively neglected by researchers studying close relationships and by family scholars, in particular. Divorce, remarriage, and multipartner fertility patterns also have had implications: In 2010, more than 10% of households with children included step- or adoptive siblings. demographics, it is important to note that these data also revealed variability in sibship size across racial/ethnic groups, with Asian ( M = 1.41) and White ( M = 1.49) youth having fewer siblings and African American ( M = 1.64) and Hispanic youth ( M = 1.68) growing up with more siblings. In 2010, the number of siblings in the household for youth age 18 and under averaged 1.51, with almost 40% of youth living with one sibling, about 25% living with two siblings, and over 15% living with 3 or more siblings. Data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series’ harmonization of the 2010 Current Population Survey ( King et al., 2010) indicate that 82.22% of youth age 18 and under lived with at least one sibling-a higher percentage than were living in a household with a father figure (78.19%). families, even in the face of declines in family size. Recent national data document the ubiquity of siblings in U.S. We also know that siblings can have direct effects on one another’s development when they serve as social partners, role models, and foils and that siblings can influence one another indirectly by virtue of their impact on larger family dynamics-such as by serving as building blocks of the family structure, holding a favored family niche, or diluting family resources ( McHale, Kim, & Whiteman, 2006).
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From this work we know that sibling relationships are shaped by factors ranging from child characteristics to cultural norms and values. Research on sibling relationships has been aimed at identifying factors that explain these and other social dynamics between siblings and at examining the role of sibling experiences in youth development and well-being. Siblings are a fixture in the family lives of children and adolescents, and a body of work documents their role in one another’s everyday experiences as companions, confidantes, combatants, and as the focus of social comparisons.