Attachment to the Romantic Partner and Sibling: Attachment Hierarchies of Twins and Non-Twin Siblings

Previous studies have shown that romantic partners and siblings are important attachment figures. This study compares the attachment to the romantic partner with the attachment to the sibling as a function of the participant’s sibling type among monozygotic (MZ) twins, dizygotic (DZ) twins, and non-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sascha Schwarz, Maida Mustafić, Sonja Junker
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology 2015-12-01
Series:Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ijpr.psychopen.eu/article/view/195
Description
Summary:Previous studies have shown that romantic partners and siblings are important attachment figures. This study compares the attachment to the romantic partner with the attachment to the sibling as a function of the participant’s sibling type among monozygotic (MZ) twins, dizygotic (DZ) twins, and non-twin (NT) siblings. The results show that MZ twins prefer their sibling to their romantic partner whereas DZ twins are equally attached to their sibling and romantic partner. In contrast, NT siblings are more attached to their romantic partner compared to their sibling. These results indicate that genetic relatedness has profound impact on a person’s attachment hierarchy and the relative rank of the romantic partner and the sibling.
ISSN:1981-6472