Beyond Rivalry

Beyond Rivalry by written Elizabeth Stark argues about siblings between relationships.

There are two kinds of social connections. One is younger adult siblings including careers, marriage and families. The other is older adult sibling, which is consists of retirement, empty net and parents and spouse gone. People may be involved in group and drift from their sisters and brothers for reason of social connections.
However, they might return back to their sisters and brothers in later life. Among many reasons, the most important reason is critical events in life. Critical events can bring sibling together and deepen existing rift especially parental sickness or death.

Professionals have surveyed about sibling and found several results about 20% people either hostile or indifferent to their siblings because of inheritance dispute and animosity. Although there was lingering rivalry it was strongly weak to break off the relationship because just a few people had totally broken with their sibling. Another research shows closeness increases and rivalry diminish as coming of age. Only 4% people did not get along with brothers and sisters. Final research is that 53% people who contact their sister and brothers increased in late adulthood. That’s because there were four reasons; firstly they had more time before with family because career obligations reduced, secondly anxiety about sibling’s health, thirdly other source of contact and support diminished and finally need link to the past.

Apparent are some of facts to maintain connection, which are proximity and positive feeling. If sisters and brothers live near, they could easily meet each other. However, the real cause is that the sibling seems to evoke positive emotion based on the images or feeling related to early age. But they can not with sibling because safety net, same age and latent rivalry is consider.

There is a proverb in Korea that blood is darker that water. It means that sister and brothers’ relationship can easily break off. Although they quarrel and complete each other during a lifetime, they turn back to their sister and brothers to associate each other.