Variation in emerging adult sibling relationship quality and communication, and the role this plays in student mental health.

A study of sibling relationship quality and communication (both on and offline) and how this acts to help or hinder students, in terms of their mental health, during the transition to university. During my MPhil year, I will conduct a set of focus groups (interviews with students), as well as some secondary data analysis, in order to unpick the main factors affecting student mental health and the role of family (particularly siblings) and communication with family (particularly via social media) during this transition. My 3 year PhD will then be made up of three studies.
Study one (months 3-9 of my PhD) will recruit 200 18-25 year olds who have a sibling with an age gap of up to four years. Using quasi-experimental design, this sample will be divided into four groups: university students who are living apart from their sibling; university students who are co-resident with their sibling; those in employment who are living apart from their sibling; and those in employment who are co-resident with their sibling. Study one will compare these four groups with regards to mean ratings for sibling relationship quality (as measured by the Networks of Relationships Inventory), wellbeing (as measured by the General Health Questionnaire) and social media use (as measured by the Social Media Integration Scale). I will also look at associations between these three constructs.
Study two (months 10-18 of my PhD) will recruit a second, socially diverse sample in order to test the generalisability of the above findings and refine the measures from study one. The WHO family affluence scale, ladder of social standing and post code data will be used as an index of disadvantage, in order for us to investigate the generalisability of the findings of study 1 when applied to students from more socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Study three will be on-going through months 8-25 of my PhD, and involves collecting follow-up data from both samples at the +5 and +10 month point after initial recruitment. Collecting follow-up data will allow me to test for stability of individual differences in sibling relationship quality, well-being and social media use, as well as investigating longitudinal associations between these variables. I will also use this longitudinal data to look at the moderating effects of social disadvantage.