Gender-related personality traits and interpersonal resource exchange among brother-sister relationships

• Published in: Personal relationships Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 187 - 198
• Main Authors: GAINES JR, STANLEY O., RUGG, MARLANA A., ZEMORE, SARAH E., ARMM, JANEEN L., YUM, NANCY, LAW, ANDY, UNDERHILL, JOHN M., FELDMAN, KAREN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.1999
• ISSN: 1350-4126; 1475-6811
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1999.tb00186.x

Brother‐sister relationships are understudied within the field of personal relationships. Accordingly, the present study examines patterns of interpersonal resource exchange (drawing upon resource exchange theory; Foa & Foa, 1974), along with influences of gender‐related personality traits (i.e., agency and communion) on individuals’giving of interpersonal resources (i.e., affection and respect), among 79 brother‐sister pairs. Consistent with predictions, brothers’and sisters’exchanges of both affection and respect were positive and significant. Also, consistent with predictions, communion was a positive and significant predictor of respectful behavior among sisters. However, contrary to hypotheses, communion did not achieve or approach significance as a predictor of respectful behavior among brothers, nor did communion achieve or approach significance as a predictor of affectionate behavior among sisters or brothers Implications for the study of male‐female relationships in general—and brother‐sister relationships in particular—are discussed.