From Family to Peers: An APIM Analysis of How Siblings' Emotion Recognition Ability Extends to Friendship Quality

This study examined how adolescents’ emotion recognition competence influences perceived friendship quality within a sibling context and whether this structural relationship differs according to sibling status. Data were drawn from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018, including 681 sibling dyads and 1,490 only children. Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and multi-group structural regression analyses were conducted, controlling for gender and age difference. Results indicated significant actor effects, such that higher emotion recognition competence was associated with higher perceived friendship quality for both adolescents and their siblings. Significant partner effects were also identified, suggesting that one sibling’s emotional competence was positively related to the other’s friendship perception. Furthermore, multi-group analysis revealed that the association between emotion recognition competence and friendship quality was significantly stronger among adolescents with siblings than among only children. These findings suggest that emotion recognition competence operates within an interdependent family system and that family structure serves as a contextual condition shaping its influence on peer relationships.