Parent-adolescent relationships, sibling ordinal status, and adolescent adjustment [abstract]

Abstract

Investigating the possible moderating affects of sibling ordinal status, researchers tested how differences in parent-child communication and trust between first-born and later-born children influence adolescent depressed mood and problem behavior. This study hypothesized that first-born adolescents will trust and communicate more with parents than later-born siblings, and that sibling-ordinal status will act as a moderator in the relationship between trust and communication and child problem behavior and depression The sample consisted of 57 7th graders (25 first-born; 32 later-born) and 61 10th graders (32 first-born; 29 later-born). Participants completed measures of trust and communication, problem behavior and depressed mood. Ratings of trust and communication were highly correlated, r(118) = .71, p