The association between sibling ambivalence and well-being in older adulthood: The role of sibling gender composition

Family scholarship has documented negative associations between ambivalence and well-being in the context of parent-adult child relationships. As sibling ties remain salient throughout later life, ambivalence experienced in sibling relationships might also be related to older adult well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sibling ambivalence and both psychological and physical well-being of older adults, as well as differences in these links by sibling gender composition. Data came from 702 older adults (392 women) who were 64.58 years old on average ( SD = 4.51). Structural equation modeling using FIML revealed that participants who felt more ambivalence toward their siblings reported poorer psychological well-being. However, a multiple group analysis showed that this association was only significant for brother-brother pairs. Findings suggest the need to further investigate the implication of sibling ambivalence for psychological well-being in later life, especially for brothers.