Brotherly Love and the Super Bowl: Win or Lose, Healthier If You Stay Close — The West Ranch Beacon

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(From Science Daily) Siblings who are close as adults — like brothers/head coaches Jim and John Harbaugh, who will clash in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 — are less likely to be depressed and have higher blood pressure over the long haul, says a Baylor University researcher.

But in the short term — come Feb. 3, when the two face off in the Super Bowl — both men almost certainly will have racing pulses and pounding hearts. One is bound to end up disappointed, sportsmanship and brotherly love aside. And how their relationship plays out in their golden years will be at least partly due to their dad’s example, says Mark Morman, Ph.D., a professor of communication in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. He has studied siblings and is an avid sports fan.

The relationship between siblings — including the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers’ Jim Harbaugh — affects them socially and emotionally throughout their entire lives since it is usually the longest-lasting relationship they will have, said Morman, who co-authored Widening the Family Circle: New Research on Family Communication with Kory Floyd, a professor of communication studies at Arizona State University. He and other researchers say certain turning points are crucial to siblings’ closeness, from going off to college to a family crisis such as death or divorce.

“Going to the Super Bowl? I would suspect that’s going to be a turning point,” Morman said with a laugh. “The rest of their lives, they’ll say, ‘Remember when we were at the Super Bowl?’”

Siblings find ways to carve out their own achievements to establish their identity, even when they follow similar career paths, like brothers/pro football players Eli and Peyton Manning and sisters/pro tennis players Serena and Venus Williams.