Citation

Kong J, Goldberg J. J. Marriage Fam. 2022; 84(4): 1046-1061.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jomf.12862

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVE This study investigated how experiencing childhood family violence can affect aspects of adult sibling relationships. Background Established evidence shows the long-term effects of childhood adversity on several domains of adult lives. Few studies, however, have examined the impact that childhood family violence exposure has on sibling relationships later in adulthood. To address this gap, this study examined the latent class structure of childhood exposure to family violence. We also investigated whether and how latent class membership predicted aspects of adult sibling relationships, including geographical proximity, contact frequency, perceived closeness, similarity in outlook, and support exchange.

METHOD Data for the study were obtained from 3921 adult participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Using the Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars (BCH) approach of latent class analysis (LCA), we identified five latent classes (prevalence rate noted): No Exposure to Family Violence (75%), Exposed to Intersibling Violence (7%), Exposed to Overall Family Violence (4%), Exposed to Paternal and Interparental Violence (10%), and Exposed to Maternal and Interparental Violence (5%).

RESULTS Childhood family violence was a significant predictor of adult sibling relationships. Specifically, we found that the Intersibling Violence, Overall Family Violence, and Paternal and Interparental Violence classes showed lower levels of perceived emotional closeness and similarity in values/outlook with their siblings than the No Exposure to Violence class.

CONCLUSION Findings suggest that childhood exposure to family violence may have long-term negative effects on the emotional aspect of sibling relationships in adulthood.

Language: en

Keywords

childhood abuse; emotional closeness; latent class analysis; siblings; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study