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Abstract: Classic accounts of strong tie formation emphasise homophily and opportunity as key engines. Following this logic, siblings, who share family background, early-life context, and extensive opportunities for interaction, should be prominent members of adults’ core discussion networks. Yet, empirically, they are not. Using Dutch ego-centred network data (SSND 2008, n=+/- 1000 adult respondents), this paper examines (i) when siblings are activated into the network and as core discussion partners, and (ii) whether sibling inclusion crowds out friends.

Multilevel logistic regression models show that sibling inclusion is highly selective: it is more likely among women, respondents in late midlife, the higher educated, those from larger sibships, and, most strongly, those who are unmarried. Friend-dominated cores are substantially less likely to include siblings. Negative binomial models further indicate that cores containing siblings are larger overall, consistent with a complementarity argument; however, net of core size, each additional sibling is associated with markedly fewer friends, consistent with a crowding-out pattern. Within the core discussion network, sibling ties are comparatively resilient to geographic distance.

Taken together, the findings suggest that homophily and opportunity are bounded principles: they generate structural potential for strong ties, but do not ensure activation into the network.