Volume 43 - Article 16 | Pages 431–460  

Oh half-brother, where art thou? The boundaries of full- and half-sibling interaction

By Linus Andersson

Abstract

Background: Research indicates that both full- and half-siblingships develop enduring social relationships, if the siblings have the opportunity to interact during childhood and adolescence.

Objective: To estimate: (1) how much time half- and full-siblings are exposed to each other during childhood and adolescence; (2) how half-sibling exposure is conditional on birth spacing and residency; and (3) how parents' social vulnerability is associated with different levels of lifetime exposure to half-siblings.

Methods: Swedish register data is used to calculate exposure to half-siblings based on birth spacing and registered residency for all full- and half-siblings in the 1994 birth cohort.

Results: A substantive share of half-siblings are less exposed to each other due to lengthy birth spacing and residency patterns. By age 18, 26% of the birth cohort have had a half-sibling who is also no older than 18 for at least one year; 13% of the birth cohort have had a half-sibling who is no older than 18 for up to 10 years; 8% of the birth cohort have been registered in the same dwelling as another half-sibling for eight years or more. Parents’ social vulnerability does not predict exposure to halfsiblings among the population that has at least one half-sibling by age 18.

Conclusions: Even though half-siblings constitute a large share of all siblings, full-siblings will likely make up the vast majority of the siblingship-like relationships because so many halfsiblings are unable to interact during childhood or adolescence due to extensive age differences and/or because they do not coreside.

Contribution: This study quantifies the role of birth spacing and residency patterns for the exposure to full and half siblings across childhood. It highlights the benefits of including a population perspective for understanding full and half sibling social relationships.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

A register-based account of period trends in union prevalence, entries, and exits by educational level for men and women in Finland
Volume 48 - Article 14

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Between rivalry and support: The impact of sibling composition on infant and child mortality in Taiwan, 1906‒1945
Volume 42 - Article 21    | Keywords: infant and child mortality, resource dilution, sibling effect, siblings, sibship composition, sibship size, Taiwan

Taking birth year into account when analysing effects of maternal age on child health and other outcomes: The value of a multilevel-multiprocess model compared to a sibling model
Volume 40 - Article 43    | Keywords: birth cohorts, maternal age, multilevel model, multiprocess model, siblings, simulation

The influence of the number of siblings on expected family size in a cohort of young adults in Germany
Volume 39 - Article 10    | Keywords: fertility, German Family Panel pairfam (Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics), Germany, planned family size, siblings

Siblings and children's time use in the United States
Volume 37 - Article 49    | Keywords: family demography, siblings, time use, United States of America

Cumulative risks of paternal and maternal incarceration in Denmark and the United States
Volume 32 - Article 57    | Keywords: childhood, cross-national comparison, inequality, mass imprisonment, parental incarceration, registry data

Cited References: 65

Download to Citation Manager

PubMed

Google Scholar

Volume
Page
Volume
Article ID