Timing of Sibling Complexity during Children’s Early Life Courses and Subsequent Psychiatric Morbidity and Education

Lauren Bishop , University of Helsinki
Philipp Dierker, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki
Liina Junna, University of Helsinki
Hanna Remes, University of Helsinki

Background Children increasingly experience sibling complexity, yet it largely remains unclear how exposure to sibling complexity during different developmental stages affects their subsequent psychiatric morbidity and education. Methods Using administrative data of Finnish birth cohorts 1990–1996 (n=418,393), we calculated sibling composition trajectories for three developmental stages (ages 0–5, 6–10, and 11–15), each comprised of the index children’s full, half-, and/or stepsiblings. We subsequently constructed eight-state sequence complexity indices for each age band to reflect the unpredictability and uncertainty of the sibship, followed by weighted (precarity) indices to differentiate between typical and potentially disadvantageous sibship transitions. Using the (un)weighted indices as predictors in regression models, we estimated associations between sibling complexity at each stage and psychiatric morbidity and education (ages 16–23) and considered effect heterogeneity by three measures of childhood socioeconomic position (SEP). Expected results We expect that early adolescent exposure to sibling complexity will be associated with higher risks of psychiatric morbidity and lower education, relative to children exposed to sibling complexity before age five. We further expect to observe stronger associations among children exposed to potentially disadvantageous, compared to typical, sibship transitions. Finally, we expect higher risks of both outcomes among children with lower childhood SEP, regardless of the stage in which they were exposed to sibling complexity. Conclusion We will advance understanding of how exposure to sibling complexity during different stages of children’s early life courses affects their health and educational outcomes and highlight the role of parental socioeconomic resources for these associations.

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 Presented in Session 82. Linked lives: Sibling Contexts and the Life Course