Publication Date

8-19-2025

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology, The Relationship Center

Keywords

Social buffering, Siblings, Cortisol, Childhood, Adolescence, Depressive symptoms

Abstract

Although positive sibling relationships are associated with better developmental outcomes for children and adolescents, it is unknown whether siblings may be effective social buffers of physiological stress. In addition, there is little research on whether depressive symptoms may moderate the effectiveness of social buffering. The current study examined (1) whether siblings, compared to strangers, buffered the cortisol response to a social evaluative stressor in children and adolescents, (2) whether depressive symptoms moderated this effect, and (3) whether self-reported sibling relationship quality influenced sibling buffering effectiveness. A total of 72 children (9-11 years) and 65 adolescents (15-17 years) were randomly assigned to complete the Trier Social Stress Test-Online with a same-age or older sibling versus a stranger. Participants provided saliva samples to measure cortisol reactivity and recovery across the session and reported on their depressive symptoms and sibling relationship quality. The sibling versus stranger buffering effect varied based on participants’ developmental stage (child vs. adolescent) and level of depressive symptoms. Specifically, adolescents with high depressive symptoms who prepared with a sibling showed lower cortisol reactivity than those who prepared with a stranger (b = 0.70, SE = 0.32, p <  .05). In contrast, there were no significant differences by condition for children or adolescents with low depressive symptoms. For individuals who prepared with a sibling (n = 69), higher alienation predicted impaired cortisol recovery post-stressor (b = 0.32, SE = 0.18, p <  .05). These findings are in line with research on normative development of sibling relationships and cortisol activity in the context of depression from childhood to adolescence.

Copyright Date

8-25-2025

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights Holder

Deborah Han, Natalie A. Thwaites, Julia Olson, Kenia M. Rivera, Julia Dmitrieva, and Jenalee R. Doom

Provenance

Received from Elsevier

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

10 pgs

File Size

1.28 MB

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the Authors. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as

Han, D., Thwaites, N. A., Olson, J., Rivera, K. M., Dmitrieva, J., & Doom, J. R. (2025). Social Buffering by Siblings in Childhood and Adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107580

Publication Title

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Volume

180

First Page

107580

ISSN

0306-4530

PubMed ID

40857990

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