The authors review the literature on sibling relationships in childhood and adolescence, starting by tracing themes from foundational research and theory and then focusing on empirical research during the past 2 decades. This literature documents siblings’ centrality in family life, sources of variation in sibling relationship qualities, and the significance of siblings for child and adolescent development and adjustment. Sibling influences emerge not only in the context of siblings’ frequent and often emotionally intense interactions but also by virtue of siblings’ role in larger family system dynamics. Although siblings are building blocks of family structure and key players in family dynamics, their role has been relatively neglected by family scholars and by those who study close relationships. Incorporating study of siblings into family research provides novel insights into the operation of families as social and socializing systems.

We review research on the family's role in gender development during childhood and adolescence. Our discussion highlights children's dyadic family relationship experiences with their parents and siblings; additionally, we describe ways in which the larger system of family relationships, including gendered dynamics in the marriage and the differential family experiences of sisters versus brothers may have implications for gender development. We also emphasize the significance of contextual factors-ranging from situational demands and affordances to forces emanating from the larger social ecology-in family gender socialization. We conclude that family experiences may have a more important impact on gender development than has previously been believed, and we highlight directions for future study. These include: (1) applying more complex models of parent socialization and family dynamics to the study of the family's role in gender development; (2) expanding on research directed at the socialization of sex differences to study how family dynamics are linked to individual differences in girls' and boys' gendered qualities and behaviors; and (3) further exploring how contextual factors exert an impact on gender socialization in the family.In this paper we review research and theory on the family's role in gender development during childhood and adolescence. Grounded in traditional models of socialization, specifically social learning and psychoanalytic perspectives, much of this work has focused on parents' differential treatment of girls versus boys and stressed the ways in which parents interact with their children as a potentially important basis for sex differences.

To address a significant gap in the literature on normative processes in minority families, the authors studied adolescents' sibling relationships in two-parent Mexican American families and explored connections between sibling relationship characteristics and familism. Participants were 246 adolescent Mexican American sibling pairs who participated in (a) home interviews during which adolescents described their sibling relationships and familism values and (b) a series of 7 nightly phone calls during which adolescents reported their daily activities, including time spent with siblings and family members. Siblings described their relationships as both intimate and conflictual, and daily activity data revealed that they spent an average of 17.2 hr per 7 days in shared activities. Sibling relationship qualities were linked to familism values and practices, and stronger patterns of association emerged for sisters than brothers. Discussion highlights the significance of studying the processes that underlie within-group variations among families of different cultural backgrounds. Keywords sibling relationships; Mexican American families; adolescence; familismSisters and brothers are a prominent part of family life in Mexican American households. According to U.S. census data, because of higher fertility rates and larger family sizes, Mexican American children grow up with more siblings than do their European American counterparts (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Further, a growing literature on the characteristics of Mexican American families highlights cultural values, beliefs, and practices that may promote close relationships between sisters and brothers. Specifically, an emphasis on family support and loyalty and on interdependence among family members, captured in the construct of familismo or familism and thought to characterize Mexican American family life (e.g., Baca Zinn, 1994; Cauce & Domenech-Rodríguez, 2002;Marín & Marín, 1991), means that sibling relationships may be an especially influential part of children's and adolescents' lives in this cultural setting. Census Bureau, 2000). Despite these demographic trends, estimates are that only 5% to 10% of published articles in family and developmental journals focus on Latino youth and families, and fewer than 2% of these investigations examine normative family and developmental processes (Hagen, Velissaris, & Nelson, 2004;McLoyd, 1998). Scholars in the area of minority youth and families also have called for ethnic-homogeneous designs (e.g., McLoyd, 1998), designs that promote understanding of the diversity of experiences within cultural groups and the cultural and ecological factors that give rise to within-group variations in family processes. The present study answers the call for research on normative family dynamics and analysis of within-group diversity among minority populations in its examination of Mexican American adolescents' sibling relationships. Specifically, the goals of this study were (a) to describe adolescents' sibling relationships in...

Although siblings are a fixture of family life, research on sibling relationships lags behind that on other family relationships. To stimulate interest in sibling research and to serve as a guide for future investigations by family scholars, we review four theoretical psychologically oriented perspectives—(a) psychoanalytic-evolutionary, (b) social psychological, (c) social learning, and (d) family-ecological systems—that can inform research on sibling relationships, including perspectives on the nature and influences on developmental, individual, and group differences in sibling relationships. Given that most research on siblings has focused on childhood and adolescence, our review highlights these developmental periods, but we also incorporate the limited research on adult sibling relationships, including in formulating suggestions for future research on this fundamental family relationship.

Personality traits predict substance use in adolescence, but less is known about prospective substance use in middle age and beyond. Moreover, there is growing interest in how personality change and the multiplicative effects among personality traits relate to substance use. Participants included approximately 4,000 adults aged 25–74 who participated in two waves of the Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) study. Higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted longitudinal substance use. Increases in neuroticism and openness predicted increased substance use while increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted decreased substance use. Higher levels of conscientiousness moderated two of the other trait main effects. Personality, trait change, and interactions among traits reliably forecasted 10-year substance-use behaviors.