Exploring the Association between Recalled Parental Bonding in Adulthood, Sibling Compatibility and Adult Attachment Styles

Page: 432-438
Soumi Dey and Deepshikha Ray (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal)

The current research tries to explore the association between “sibling compatibility,” “recalled parental bonding in adulthood” and “adult attachment styles” in 60 male and 60 female individuals with a mean age of 37.45 years (SD =5.07) categorised into two groups in terms of the sex of their siblings, i.e., same sex opposite sex siblings. The constructs were measured using “Lifespan Relationship Scale “(Riggio, 2000). “The Parental Bonding Instrument” (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979) and “Revised Adult Attachment Scale Close Relationship Version” (Collins, 1996) respectively. The findings of the present study highlight that compatibility in sibling relationships enhances the quality of recalled bonding with parents and attachment with close acquaintances and such a facilitatory process occurs independent of the sex of the participants. Also, female participants were found to report better sibling compatibility and there was an increased prevalence of “fearful style of attachment” among participants with opposite sex siblings.