Sibling Relationship During Middle Adulthood in Relation to Emotional Intelligence

The present study was conducted in Haryana and Uttarakhand states. From Chamoli block in Uttarakhand, Gair village and from Bhiwani block in Haryana, Chang village were selected at random. Adults in the age range of 40-50 years were identified by snowball method. The total sample comprised of 240 adults, 120 from Haryana and 120 from Uttarakhand including 120 male adults and 120 female adults. Adult Sibling Relationship scale developed by Nandwana and Katoch (2010) was used to assess sibling relationship. Emotional intelligence scale by Hyde et al. (2002) was used to assess emotional intelligence of respondents. Results of the present study revealed that irrespective of the location (Uttarakhand & Haryana), rural and urban area of residence and sex of respondents, emotional intelligence was positively correlated with contacts, emotional closeness, confiding and overall sibling relationship; while there was negative relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict dimension of sibling relationship. Higher was the emotional intelligence; better were the sibling relationship among adults. Also, there was significant association between emotional intelligence and overall sibling relationship of respondents. Regression analysis also revealed that emotional intelligence was predictor of sibling relationships. Vice-a-versa, regression analysis also revealed that sibling relationship was predictor of emotional intelligence. So, it can be said that sibling relationships and emotional intelligence are bi-directional in nature, one influencing the other.