Psychological Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood: The Role of Loneliness, Social Support, and Sibling Relationships in Turkey

The current study was conducted to examine the psychological well-being of Turkish emerging adults in terms of loneliness, dimensions of perceived social support, and attitudes towards sibling relationships. The sample consisted of 422 university students from three universities located in Istanbul, Turkey. According to the results of the study, loneliness, attitudes towards sibling relations, and perceived social support from family were significant predictors of psychological well-being. Perceived social support from friends and a significant other were not significant predictors of psychological well-being. All variables explained 40% of the total variance of psychological well-being.

Brotherhood and Destructivity in Sibling Relationships

The integrative and assimilatory tendencies of modern society are based on “fraternity”, which refers to the sibling level. Siblings are for each other primary objects with all the possible positive and negative affects that can go along with it. The ego functions are strongly stimulated by the exchange with the siblings, but also the infantile sexuality. In adolescence there can be sexual assaults between sister and brother that are still socially taboo. How does one explain that brotherhood can arise from sibling relations - so often characterized by jealousy and rivalry?

Women Born to Older Mothers Have Reduced Fertility. Evidence From a Natural Fertility Population

Are daughters of older mothers less fertile? The human mutation rate is high and increases with chronological age. As female oocytes age, they become less functional, reducing female chances at successful reproduction. Increased oocyte mutation loads at advanced age may be passed on to offspring, decreasing fertility among daughters born to older mothers. In this paper we study the effects of maternal ageing on her daughter's fertility, including total number of children, age at last birth, and neonatal mortality among her children. We study fertility histories of two generations of women from mutually exclusive families from a pre-demographic transition historical population in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Using mixed effect Poisson and linear models to take within family (sibling) relations into account, we show that among married daughters fertility is reduced for those who were born to mothers with an advanced maternal age, resulting in fewer children ever born and earlier ages at last birth. We do not find consistent evidence for effects on neonatal mortality. These results may indicate that women born to older mothers are negatively affected by their mothers' increased age.

Linked in Life and Death: A Note on the Effect of Parental Death on Sibling Relations in Young and Middle Adulthood

Despite the important role of adult parent–child and sibling relations in the family system, only few studies have investigated yet, how the common adult experience of parental death impacts sibling relations. Estimating fixed-effects regression models using four waves of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; n = 4,123 respondents), the present note focused on changes in three dimensions of adult siblings’ relationship qualities following the first parent’s death. Our analysis revealed a short-term positive effect of parental death on sibling contacts as well as longer-lasting increases in emotional closeness and conflicts. Next to an intensification of sibling relations following the first parent’s death, we also detected significant spillover effects from respondents’ relationship with the surviving parent to their sibling relations. Our analysis thus provided evidence for adult parent–child and sibling relations to be “linked in life and death,” underlining the benefits of jointly analyzing intra- and intergenerational family relationships.

Sibling relationships and their role in human life

The article presents the results of studies of sibling relations from different approaches. The articles included in this review concern the nature of relationships with brothers and sisters at different ages, its role in the development of aggressive and prosocial behavior, attitudes to oneself and one’s body, life satisfaction. Sibling relationships are analyzed in the context of the entire family system. It is noted that sibling relationships are involuntary, stable and characterized by a high degree of spontaneity. It is shown that the nature of communication with brothers and sisters is associated with the well-being of a person and the peculiarities of his/her adaptation in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

DNA-based genealogy reconstruction of Nebbiolo, Barbera and other ancient grapevine cultivars from northwestern Italy

Northwestern Italy is a wine region of the world with the highest of reputations, where top quality wines of remarkable economic value are produced from traditional, long-cultivated varieties. Kinship analyses were performed using 32 microsatellite loci and more than 10 K single-nucleotide polymorphism markers on 227 traditional grapes mostly from Northwestern Italy—including those that have been neglected or are threatened. This was done to better understand the genetic grapevine origins and history of this reputable wine producing area, thus enhancing its cultural value and the marketing appeal of its wines. The work revealed a complex network of genetic relationships among varieties, with little contribution of genotypes from other areas. It revealed the major role played by a few ancient grape varieties as parents of numerous offspring, including some that are endangered today. The ancestry of many cultivars is proposed. Among these are Dolcetto, Barbera and Riesling italico. Through the inference of parent–offspring and sibling relations, marker profiles of ungenotyped putative parents were reconstructed, suggesting kinship relations and a possible parentage for Nebbiolo, one of the most ancient wine grapes worldwide. Historic and geographic implications from the resulting kinships are discussed.

Czy „rodzeństwo zawsze się bije”? Znormalizowana przemoc między rodzeństwem w dzieciństwie — stan badań, skala zjawiska, doświadczenia dorosłego rodzeństwa

This article deals with the problem of sibling violence in childhood. According to the data, children are particularly often the victims of physical and psychological abuse from their brothers and sisters. However, this topic is relatively rarely discussed in Polish sociological and psychological literature. Among other reasons, there is a tendency to perceive violence between children as irrelevant and as an unavoidable element of childhood. The author has three purposes. First, she presents the state of expertise on sibling violence. Second, she presents data obtained from the Empowering Children Foundation on how many children report sibling violence to the Helpline and thus illustrates the scale of the phenomenon in Poland. Third, she attempts to show how the experience of sibling violence in childhood is reflected in the stories adults recount in regard to their biographies and their relations with their siblings. Cases are cited that illustrate the various circumstances of physical and psychological violence in sibling relations.

Women born to older mothers have reduced fertility: Evidence from a natural fertility population

Are daughters of older mothers less fertile? The human mutation rate is high and increases with chronological age. As female oocytes age, they become less functional, reducing female chances at successful reproduction. Increased oocyte mutation loads at advanced age may be passed on to offspring, decreasing fertility among daughters born to older mothers. In this paper we study the effects of maternal ageing on her daughter’s fertility, including total number of children, age at last birth, and neonatal mortality among her children. We study fertility histories of two generations of women from disjoint families from a pre-transitional historical population in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Using mixed effect Poisson models to take within family (sibling) relations into account, we show that fertility is reduced among married daughters who were born at advanced maternal age, with fewer children ever born and earlier ages at last birth. We do not find consistent evidence for effects on neonatal mortality. These results may indicate that women born to older mothers are negatively affected by their mothers’ increased oocyte mutation load.