Sibling relationship quality in the context of digital leisure and geographic distance for college-attending emerging adults.

During the transition to adulthood, emerging adults may experience new geographic distance separating them from their siblings. Digital leisure is common among emerging adults and may serve as a tool for maintaining relationship quality across geographic distance. Using qualitative data, we created individual digital leisure diversity scores for four categories of digital leisure identified from a constructed taxonomy. The sample included 185 college-attending emerging adults (M age = 20.1, 64.3% male). Analysis of variance indicated dyadic gender differences in social media and gaming. Digital leisure diversity was associated with greater levels of affective and cognitive sibling relationship quality, regardless of sibling dyad gender. The association between digital leisure diversity and cognitive relationship quality was significant for participants who lived closer to their sibling. During the transition to adulthood when new geographic separation is common, digital leisure shows potential as a compensatory activity that may help siblings maintain relationship quality.

Rethinking Leisure Time Use Metrics: Greater Diversity in Shared Sibling Leisure is Associated with Higher Relationship Quality during Emerging Adulthood.

Leisure diversity-the total number of unique leisure categories shared within a sibling dyad-may vary according to sibling characteristics (e.g. sibling gender, age difference) and predict sibling relationship quality. Using triangulated lists, brief narratives, and focus groups, we constructed a taxonomy of shared sibling leisure in emerging adulthood and then calculated individual leisure diversity scores. The sample (N=185) included college-attending emerging adults with an average age of 20.1 years old (35.7% female). Taxonomic analysis suggested 19 categories of shared sibling leisure. ANOVAs indicated differences by dyadic gender composition in endorsement rates of select leisure categories and average levels of leisure diversity (lowest for mixed gender dyads). Greater shared leisure diversity was associated with higher levels of affective (sister-sister dyads) and cognitive relationship quality (sister-sister and mixed gender dyads). The association of leisure diversity with sibling relationship quality was strongest for sister-sister dyads and not significant for brother-brother dyads. Sibling dyads that include a sister are more likely to be impacted by level of shared leisure diversity. The results of this study introduce leisure diversity as a metric for quantifying sibling leisure and support its potential as a means for understanding and impacting sibling relationship quality in emerging adulthood.