The Thrown Fantastik, The Personal Photos And That Toothsome Bartender You’re Potentially Dating

Latey we’ve been seeing examples of how the economics of New York City dictate that full-fledged, non-related adults live together, sometimes four to an apartment, regardless of one’s budget. Now we must revise this to say that there are actually full-fledged adults who are related but not sleeping together sharing living spaces, regardless of their budgets: “Sibling Seeks Same to Share Apartment”.

You might have assumed that siblings live together out of economic necessity but it’s actually more complicated than that:

While siblings have sometimes lived together in middle or old age out of necessity, some psychologists and researchers of sibling relationships say that young adult brothers and sisters who become roommates could be laying the foundation for a lifelong support system. Siblings are often close as children, become distant during adolescence and then increasingly reliant on each other as adults, through parenthood, career changes, divorce and old age, said Victor Cicirelli, a professor of psychology at Purdue University.

Kristin Meyer, 27, who lives in Brooklyn with her sister, Alessandra, 24, said she wanted to have her personal photos in her living room. “The only way to do that was to live with my sister,” she said.

Experts note the benefits of rooming with your sibling:

Self-selection assures that sibling-roommates are probably on solid footing to begin with, said Michael D. Kahn, an author of “The Sibling Bond.”

And when they don’t get along, siblings tend to resolve conflicts swiftly and bluntly. “I threw a bottle of Fantastik at her,” Kristin said of a recent time Alessandra angered her by using Windex to clean their kitchen table.

Still, there are clear disadvantages:

But sibling roommates might not be comfortable with each other’s casual relationships, making one less apt to bring that toothsome bartender back to their shared quarters. “The weirdness comes in when you’re potentially dating a lot of people,” Kristin Meyer said. “It’s not something you want your sister to know. If it’s a roommate, you can get away with it.”