Poster #36 - Canadian Youth’s Preferences for Solitude and Self-Perceptions: Do Siblings Play a Role?

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Introduction
Having siblings may affect how adolescents view themselves and their time spent alone. Having siblings has been linked to superior mentalizing abilities in children (Devine & Hughes, 2018), persisting into adulthood (Lo & Mar, 2022). Studies suggest that adolescents with siblings have higher academic achievement and parental academic expectations (Shi et al., 2021), while only children report lower loneliness (Lin et al., 2021). Consequently, the present study investigated whether having siblings influences adolescents’ solitude preferences and how they perceive themselves.
Method
Fifty adolescents participated in an ongoing longitudinal study of Canadian youth’s preferences for solitude. Ages ranged from 11-18, with 34 girls, 26 boys and one non-binary participant. Participants responded to a 1-hour survey online on personal computers at home. Questions were a combination of forced choice and open-ended responses. Questions included: ‘Are you alone more often than you are with others (yes/no)?’ ‘If yes/no – please explain why’. ‘List some reasons for why you chose to be alone’. They listed their favourite solitary activities and responded to measures of behaviour such as social competence. Participants gave details of their siblings’ age and gender, enabling separation into only children, and those with siblings.
Results
Solitary activities were coded into two groups – Technology Use and Off-Screen Engagement, with two outliers, preferring to ‘just think’ and imagine scenarios. While 53.33% (8/15) only children use technology in time alone, 48.65% (18/37) did so in the siblings group. One of the most common solitary activities was playing video games – mentioned by 18.92% (7/37) adolescents with siblings, compared to none of those without. In addition, only children were more likely to watch TV (20.00%, 3/15 no sib, compared to 5.41%, 2/37- with sib), and listen to music (13.33%, 2/15 – no sib compared to 5.41%, 2/37 – with sib).
Independent samples t-tests revealed significant sibling differences in social competence (t(52) = -1.792, p = .039), romantic appeal (t(50) = -1.988, p = .026), and behavioral conduct (t(52) = 2.753, p = .007). Only children rated themselves higher in social competence (SC) (M = 2.60, SD = .758) and romantic appeal (RA) (M = 2.95, SD = .692) compared to those with siblings (SC: M = 2.20, SD = .760; RA: M = 2.56, SD = .635). Adolescents with siblings (M = 2.04, SD = .835) rated themselves higher in behavioral conduct than only children (M = 1.58, SD = .461). Further supporting this finding, the more siblings an adolescent had, the higher they rated themselves in behavioral conduct (r = .334, p = .014).
Implications
Our results suggest that differences exist in self-perception and how time is spent alone depending on family structure. Having siblings may influence how one perceives themselves socially, romantically, and behaviourally. Adolescents may engage in more comparisons and shape their behaviours around these.
Overall, our study demonstrates that siblings play an important role in adolescents’ solitude preferences and self-perceptions.

Authors

• Sophie Powell, Brock University

• Shanel Quenneville, Brock University

• Sandra Bosacki, Brock University
  Presenting Author

• Victoria Talwar, McGill University