Correlates of Latina college students' dyadic coping with sisters

Objective: This study examined Latina college students' perceptions of sisters' dyadic coping behaviors following stress disclosure, and how dyadic coping behaviors were associated with sibling relationship characteristics and familism values. Background: Sibling relationships are protective when college students experience adversity. Method: The sample included 195 Latina college students (M_age = 23.25 years, SD = 1.93) and path analysis was conducted to address the study goals. Results: Latina college students perceived high levels of supportive, delegated, and common dyadic coping behaviors and moderate levels of negative dyadic coping behaviors from their sisters. Latina college students who lived with their sisters perceived more delegated dyadic coping behaviors than those who lived apart. Sibling intimacy was positively associated with perceptions of sisters' supportive, delegated, and common dyadic coping, but was not associated with negative dyadic coping behaviors. Sibling negativity was negatively associated with perceptions of sisters' supportive and common dyadic coping behaviors and positively associated with perceptions of sisters' negative dyadic coping behaviors. Further, Latina college students' stronger endorsement of familism values was associated with greater perceptions of sisters' supportive, delegated, and common dyadic coping behaviors. Conclusion: Overall, our study showed that Latina college students perceived dyadic coping behaviors from their sisters, which were associated with aspects of their sibling relationship and their endorsement of familism values. Implications: Continuing to examine dyadic coping in siblings is important as it may have implications for family-focused prevention and intervention programs.