2024/11/19 by Jeenkyoung Lee, Megan Gilligan, Tricia K. Neppl +2 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Family Support in Illness #Health disparities and outcomes #Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/02654075241302505
openalex publication_date 2024/11/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Family scholarship has documented negative associations between ambivalence and well-being in the context of parent-adult child relationships. As sibling ties remain salient throughout later life, ambivalence experienced in sibling relationships might also be related to older adult well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sibling ambivalence and both psychological and physical well-being of older adults, as well as differences in these links by sibling gender composition. Data came from 702 older adults (392 women) who were 64.58 years old on average ( SD = 4.51). Structural equation modeling using FIML revealed that participants who felt more ambivalence toward their siblings reported poorer psychological well-being. However, a multiple group analysis showed that this association was only significant for brother-brother pairs. Findings suggest the need to further investigate the implication of sibling ambivalence for psychological well-being in later life, especially for brothers.