Psychological well-being of siblings in late adulthood

Equity theory was applied to explore (a) the relationship between overall, affective, and instrumental support equity and psychological well being and (b) the relationship between sibling role performance and overall relationship equity in a sample of older adult siblings. The effect of sibling gender on psychological well being was also examined. The sample used for the study was drawn from Generation 1 and Generation 2 of the Longitudinal Study of Generations at Time 5 (1994). The analyses of covariance revealed no significant differences in psychological well being by relationship equity. However, the results showed a systematic pattern which was in the predicted direction. Subjects who maintained equitable relationships in terms of affective and overall support had higher psychological well being scores when compared to subjects in over or underbenefited relationships. Subjects in equitable relationships rated their sibling role performance as higher than those in inequitable relationships, but the difference was not statistically significant. Sibling gender had no effect on psychological well being. Study strengths, limitations, and directions for future research were discussed.