Sibling relationship qualities and prosocial behaviors in Asian Indian college students: Intervening roles of family respect values and empathy

Despite rising interest in understanding siblings as socialization agents of young adults’ well-being in diverse cultural contexts, strengths-based research on the sibling socialization of youth prosocial behaviors in non-Western, majority world settings (i.e., India) is lacking. The present study investigated the associations between siblings’ relationship qualities (i.e., support and conflict) and prosocial behaviors towards different recipients (i.e., family, friends, and strangers), and considered the intervening roles of family respect values and empathy among Asian Indian young adults. Cross-sectional data were drawn from 197 college students (M = 21.6 years, SD = 2.3, range = 18–25; 61.6% women) with at least one sibling from urban liberal arts colleges in India. Using online surveys, participants self-reported on their perceived levels of support and conflict with siblings, empathy, family respect, and prosocial behaviors. Path analyses yielded evidence for both family respect and empathy as intervening mechanisms between sibling support (but not sibling conflict) and prosocial behaviors. Sibling support was related to higher family respect, which was subsequently associated with greater empathy. In turn, empathy was linked to more prosocial behaviors towards family, friends, and strangers. Sibling conflict was only directly associated with lower family respect. Findings have key implications for traditional and culturally-integrated theoretical models of prosocial development by emphasizing the interplay of sibling relationship qualities, cultural values, and moral developmental mechanisms for Asian Indian young adults’ prosocial behaviors.