Similarities and reciprocal influences in eating behavior within sibling pairs: a longitudinal study

The present study investigated similarities and reciprocal influences in emotional, external and restrained eating in adolescent siblings, and the moderating role of sex and quality of relationship. A total of 415 sibling pairs (aged 13-16 years) participated in this two-wave one-year longitudinal study. Analyses were conducted by means of Structural Equation Modeling. Cross-sectional findings demonstrated that siblings are moderately similar in their eating behavior. Longitudinal findings showed that the younger siblings exert a small influence on the emotional and external eating behavior of the older siblings. No support was found for the older siblings affecting the younger siblings in their eating behavior. Furthermore, no sex differences were found in the associations between sibling eating behaviors within and over time. However, we did find a moderating effect for the quality of the relationship concerning similarities in emotional eating. Future research focusing on various sociocultural influences on adolescents' eating behaviors should also include younger siblings.