My siblings and I have had our ups and downs, but we love each other nonetheless.
As wild and hormonal youngsters, it’s normal to clash and be a bit mean to each other. Still, as we grow older, the phrase “blood is thicker than water” starts making more and more sense.
It’s probably because of maturity, and having someone around whom you’ve known since birth and can trust is important for any person.
However, I have never really thought about the effects my siblings had on me. I’ve always seen them as the same wonderful and annoying individual that looks kinda like me.
But now, researchers have discovered that sisters may have a positive influence on their siblings.
They simply make our lives a little better, writes Goodfullness.
This conclusion first came to light in 2010 in The Journal of Family Psychology. Researchers surveyed a total of 400 families with two or more children.
The result established that sisters promoted positive mental health in their siblings.
The study also concluded that those who had a sister had an easier time feeling empathy, were better at communicating, and more skilled at resolving conflicts.
Sisters harness positivity
This has also been confirmed more recently in a similar report from Brigham Young University, according to the site InspireMore.
Laura Padilla-Walker, one of the main authors of the first study, claims that even in difficult family relationships, the positive bits outweigh the negative ones in everything that the sister contributes to the siblings’ lives.
“As long as they have affection, the positive will win out,” she said, according to Goodfullness.
As siblings often quarrel at an early age, they must learn to control their emotions. It is a crucial trait to develop later in life.
Even if siblings do not always agree, having a brother or sister generally contributes to a less lonely upbringing.
Siblings communication skills
As the study also addresses, it’s probably not shocking that girls are usually more talkative and communicative than boys.
According to the research, boys who have a sister often develop better communication skills.
One of the clearest upsides that the report highlighted was precisely a sense of responsibility. If there is a sister in the family, this emotion is usually strongly present in her siblings – even after the parents pass away.
So even if there is a little quarrel now and then between siblings, those disagreements can only be considered as small bumps on the road.
Hopefully, your relationship will remain strong – and you also get a true friend for life!
Now SHARE this article with your siblings, or tag your beloved sister in the Facebook comments!
