During the transition to adulthood, emerging adults may experience new geographic distance separating them physically from their siblings. Digital leisure is common among emerging adults and may serve as a tool for maintaining relationship quality across geographic distance. Using triangulated list responses, brief narratives, and focus groups, we calculated individual digital leisure diversity scores for four categories of digital leisure identified from a constructed taxonomy. The sample (n = 185) included college-attending emerging adults with an average age of 20.1 years (64.3% male). Analysis of variance indicated differences by dyadic gender composition in endorsement rates of select leisure categories (social media and gaming). Digital leisure diversity is associated with greater levels of affective and cognitive relationship quality, regardless of sibling dyad gender. The association between digital leisure diversity and cognitive relationship quality was significant for participants who lived under 25 miles from their sibling. Results of this study demonstrate an association between digital leisure diversity and sibling relationship quality without gender differences, however, digital leisure diversity may not play the expected role of relationship maintenance across long distances.
Sibling relationship quality in the context of digital leisure and geographic distance for college-attending emerging adults
