Do Nonagenarians siblings provide mutual support? Insights from the EU GeHA project

Introduction.– Sibling relationships have been described as intimate, <br/>congenial, loyal, apathetic or hostile but little is known about <br/>sibling relationships in very old age.Weasked nonagenarian brothers <br/>and sisters from the EU-funded Genetics of Healthy Ageing <br/>(GeHA) project whether they had felt supported by having a living <br/>sibling to have better coping abilities. <br/>Methods and results.– Nonagenarian siblings were a convenience <br/>sample from four countries from the GeHA study–Italy, Poland, <br/>N Ireland, Finland. All were consented willing participants. Most <br/>male/female dyads demonstrated healthy respect for each other’s <br/>opinion and their sibling relationship fits the “loyal” type, though <br/>with a clear sense of independence.Noneof the eight female/female <br/>nor the one male/male dyad seemed to fit the “intimate” description; <br/>two might be described as “apathetic”, while the other two <br/>seemed to show aspects of family “loyalty”, alongside other traits <br/>perhaps best described as “congenial”. There were apparent different <br/>cultural influences across Europe with siblings in Italy and <br/>Poland more likely to report supportive siblinghood, compared to <br/>sibling pairs/trios in Finland or N Ireland where self-resilience and <br/>independence seemed more common. Polish and Italian nonagenarians <br/>often felt supported by their religious faith and church. <br/>Conclusions.– In general, nonagenarian siblings most often demonstrated <br/>loyal family relationships, which may have helped each <br/>other’s coping and survival mechanisms. However, there was <br/>widespread evidence of tolerance for individual decision-making. <br/>Perhaps rather, these 90-year-olds survive because they are <br/>resilient and independent and don’t need to depend on each other!