Adult children as caregivers: egocentric biases in judgments of sibling contributions.
This study examined filial caregivers' views of their own and their siblings' costs and contributions to the care of their parents. The respondents viewed their siblings' responses to the parents' needs as remarkably similar to their own, in spite of there being no actual similarity. Despite these perceived similarities, however, respondents perceived their siblings as contributing less than themselves, gaining less satisfaction, feeling freer to alter their caregiving, and being resistant to increasing their relative contributions. In order of importance, the extent of contact between the siblings, their feelings of closeness, the extent of parents' needs, their gender, the extent of resources spent, and personal regard for their siblings were significant predictors of these egocentrically biased perceptions. As expected, these egocentrically biased perceptions were important predictors of personal regard for their siblings.