Developmental Change in Sibling Support and School Commitment Across Adolescence

Abstract

School commitment typically declines across adolescence, but the family-level factors that explain this decline have not been fully characterized. This study investigated sibling support as a family resource in predicting school commitment across 7th-10th grade using a sample of 444 adolescents (M = 12.61, 13.59, 14.59, 15.58 years). Results showed that sibling support linearly increased and school commitment decreased and stabilized, independently, over time. Sibling support positively predicted school commitment in seventh grade and across time, suggesting that having supportive siblings may help to offset adolescents' declines in school commitment. Furthermore, having a brother enhanced this association versus having a sister. These findings provide insight into ways to help youth maintain school commitment across the middle- to high school transition.

Adolescent interactions with family and emotions during interactions: Variation by family structure.

“…Adolescents respond emotionally to the people they spend time with (S. Kim, Holloway, Bempechat, & Li, 2018). Relational regulation theory suggests adolescents regulate their affect, thought, and actions through social interactions and that day-to-day interactions with supportive individuals can foster positive youth development (Rogers, Guyer, Nishina, & Conger, 2018). Therefore, companionship patterns have important implications for adolescent development and relational health.…”

Where You Lead, I Will Follow: Exploring Sibling Similarity in Brain and Behavior During Risky Decision Making

“…Although prior research has largely focused on the role of peers, sibling relationships are a salient influence on whether adolescents decide to engage in risk taking (Rende, Slomkowski, Lloyd‐Richardson, & Niaura, 2005; Slomkowski, Rende, Novak, Lloyd‐Richardson, & Niaura, 2005; Whiteman, Jensen, & Maggs, 2013). While sibling relations can be a protective factor in promoting psychosocial adjustment during adolescence (Branje, van Lieshout, van Aken, & Haselager, 2004; Gass, Jenkins, & Dunn, 2007; Hollifield & Conger, 2015; Rogers, Guyer, Nishina, & Conger, 2018), they also have the ability to increase adolescent engagement in risk taking (Craine, Tanaka, Nishina, & Conger, 2009; Slomkowski, Rende, Conger, Simons, & Conger, 2001; Whiteman, Zeiders, Killoren, Rodriguez, & Updegraff, 2014). In fact, older sibling risk taking predicts younger siblings’ risk taking above and beyond the influence of parents and peers (Defoe et al, 2013; Stormshak, Comeau, & Shepard, 2004), even among nonbiological siblings (McGue & Sharma, 1995; Samek, Rueter, Keyes, Mcgue, & Iacono, 2015).…”

“…These studies highlight a set of neural candidates to examine as promising indices of adolescent susceptibility to social influence. The ventral striatum (VS; for a review, Fareri, Martin, & Delgado, 2008) and anterior insula (AI; for a review, Smith, Steinberg, & Chein, 2014) are implicated in adolescent risky decision making (Kahn, Peake, Dishion, Stormshak, & Pfeifer, 2015; McCormick & Telzer, 2017; Peake, Dishion, Stormshak, Moore, & Pfeifer, 2013; Telzer, Ichien, et al, 2015; Telzer, Fuligni, et al, 2015;), and activation in these regions is modulated by changes in the social context (Chein et al, 2011; Qu et al, 2015; Rogers, Guyer, Nishina, & Conger, 2018; Telzer, Ichien, et al, 2015; Telzer, Fuligni, et al, 2015; Telzer, Miernicki, et al, 2018). In addition, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is implicated in valuation (Hare, Camerer, & Rangel, 2009), specifically as adolescents learn during risky decision making (for a review, Blakemore & Robbins, 2012).…”

Neural correlates of sibling closeness and association with externalizing behavior in adolescence

“…However, the theoretical and empirical emphasis of this research has been focused solely on parent and peer relationships, and has not addressed relationships with siblings. This is an important limitation, given that siblings are one of the most ubiquitous and enduring relationships in individuals’ lives (Kramer et al ., 2019 ) and often influence adolescents’ behavior above and beyond that of peers or parents (Defoe et al ., 2013 ; Whiteman et al ., 2014 ; Rogers et al ., 2017 ). Given the important role of sibling relationships on adolescent externalizing behavior (Defoe et al ., 2013 ; Slomkowski et al ., 2001 ; Whiteman et al ., 2014 ), we examined the role of sibling closeness on the neurobiology of adolescent decision-making.…”

“…The majority of children in the United States live with at least one sibling (81%; Kreider, 2008 ). Positive adolescent sibling relationships, characterized by closeness and support, have been linked to a variety of psychosocial adjustment outcomes during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Milevsky and Levitt, 2005 ; Melby et al ., 2008 ; Alfaro and Umaña-Taylor, 2010 ; Hollifield and Conger, 2015 ; Rogers et al ., 2017 ), including lower externalizing behavior such as substance use, risky sexual behaviors and deviant acts (Conger et al ., 1994 ; Slomkowski et al ., 2001 ; Yeh and Lempers, 2004 ; Buist et al ., 2014 ), above and beyond the effects of parent and peer relationships (Stormshak et al ., 2004 ; Defoe et al ., 2013 ; Whiteman et al ., 2013 ; Samek et al ., 2015 ). Sibling relationships distinguish themselves from parents and peers because they are our longest lasting relationships (Cicirelli, 1995 ), and thus, provide a stable and safe environment for unique learning experiences (Furman and Buhrmester, 1985 ; Feinberg et al ., 2012 ).…”