Do you see any correlation between people who got along very well with their siblings in childhood, and those who get along well with their spouses?

I get on extremely well with one sister (my best mate) and ok with the other (we are very different people) I am not married (only 23!) but I’ve always had very relaxed, relationships, I find it very easy to live with people once boundaries are set (NEVER touch my toblerone… thats about it really). I think it is probably easier to live with a partner if you have had siblings. if only to understand having to live with other people of your own age range but I wouldn’t expect people who have a bad relationship with their siblings to necessarily find it harder with a spouse. you choose a partner based on how you are. you don’t get that with siblings. I would expect there to be no correlation whatsoever, may be a nice little psyc experiment though…. see how many divorcees have siblings they are close with etc.

My stepmother had an awful relationship with her only sister for her childhood. It was only very recentl;y (mabye about 5 or 6 years) that her relationship with her sister healed and now they are best friends. She gets along very, very well with my Father and I have never witnessed them have a bad argument (It may be that they only argue behind closed doors, but I am with them alot)

Not really. I’m not married but when I look in my friends lives and I see what they been through and how they didn’t get along with the brothers and sisters then after marriage they were the best friends with the spouses… well it’s a really good thing.

Not at all.

Nope. Infact, I was under the illusion that because my ex husband had two sisters, one older and one younger, that he was inclined to be more understanding and “sensitive” to women. Hah! Hardly!
Infact, I now know I was playing the role of “bad mommy” in our marriage, and that he was unconsciously rebelling against me due to his mommy issues. Gah! Silly goose, but oh, am I a wise old waddler now! :-)

My relationship with my wife has nothing to do with my parents or my sister. She and I have created a positive, loving relationship.

No. They sometimes have made for good co habitators but not necessarily partners. My best relationships have been with other “only children”.

I’m going to guess there is no correlation.. I fought terribly and pretty much constantly with my sister when we were children. We sometimes (but very rarely) played together—our interests and friends were just too different.

We aren’t super close now, but we get along very well now as adults and enjoy getting our families together. I’d say we’ve both been mellowed by marrying wonderful men who helped tone down our high-strung ways…but I don’t know if she’d agree with that assessment. Anyways, basically from the time I was off at University and she was in High School we got along very well.

I never had conflicts with other roommates (even those I was randomly paired with in college) or live-in boyfriends. I rarely have conflict with my husband. (Less and less as time goes on and we both mellow with age.)

My own parents divorced during my early teen years and fought constantly and bitterly their entire (doomed) marriage…so I don’t think I’m emulating their relationship, either.

I suppose I concur completely with @tinyfaery—my own family dynamics now (with my husband and children) don’t seem to have any connection to my past relationships with my parents or sister. My family now is the family I always dreamed of having as a child..much more loving and functional.

In general, people who grow up in happy families are more likely to be happy. I would also expect people to be more influenced by the opposite type of family example, but I’m not sure.

As with any generality about behavior, there are always anecdotes which show the opposite.

I’ve thought about this a lot, actually. I feel the same way. I always figure it is difficult to find people that you can live with, and be happy living together. No matter how much you love them, sometimes it is hard to live with people. But, I live very well with my husband… and it does remind me of living with my sisters. It’s just the household dynamic, it feels similar to me, also. I’m sure it doesn’t apply to everyone, but I do think that your concept applies to me.

So it seems that getting along with siblings does not necessarily influence a marital relationship, but the marriage can feel like childhood, remind us of those relationships.