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The authors examine the impact of gender, marital status, and parent status on emotional closeness, confiding, and contact among siblings in middle and later life. Using data from a multistage quota sample that includes 528 respondents aged 55 and older who have one or more siblings, characteristics of both the respondent and the sibling or sibling network are studied. Separate analyses are conducted for the entire sibling network and for the sibling of greatest closeness, confiding, and contact. Women and respondents with sisters, the single (never married), and the childless tend to have more active sibling ties than their counterparts. Several control variables (number of siblings, geographic proximity, age, and education) are also significant. Emotional closeness to siblings is an important factor related to confiding and contact. Findings are discussed in the context of socially proscribed familial obligation and emotional attachment as bases for involvement with siblings.
Connidis et al. (Wed,) studied this question.