New Study Finds Cousin Relationships Are a Hidden Source of Support for Young Adults

Hessel, H., & Christiansen, R. J. (2025). Close but not too close? A qualitative study of how U.S. emerging adults describe their cousin relationships. Adolescents, 5(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents5010008

Introduction

Family research has long centered on parents and siblings, largely overlooking cousin relationships. Hessel and Christiansen (2025) argue this is a meaningful gap, given that emerging adults (ages 18–29) consistently report feeling closer to, more similar to, and more supported by their cousins than by aunts and uncles. As young people navigate the transition out of immediate family structures, understanding what cousin relationships actually look like and what sustains them is significant in understanding family relations and dynamics.

Methods

192 U.S. emerging adults (mean age 25.6) completed an online survey in November 2017, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants described their interactions with extended family through four open-ended prompts covering in-person, online, and technology-mediated contact. From these responses, participants identified 561 cousins (mean age 28.2). Two researchers applied Braun and Clarke’s inductive thematic analysis, meeting iteratively to refine themes and account for their own positionality.

Results

Four themes emerged. First, closeness with cousins varies considerably. Cousin closeness is fostered through emotional confiding, shared experiences, and family membership, but sometimes limited by awkwardness, comparison, or estrangement. Second, relational maintenance is both planned (holidays, births, deaths) and incidental (chance encounters, social media). Third, cousins provide meaningful resources—functional help, mentoring, and advice. Fourth,  cousins in similar life stages connect more readily, and relationship dynamics shift as both parties mature. Ultimately, cousin relationships are quietly protective. Even when contact is infrequent, the combination of family belonging and generational similarity creates a unique form of support that neither friends nor siblings fully replicate.

Discussion

These findings push back against the common assumption that young adults naturally drift away from family as they build independent lives. Family ties remain meaningful well into the twenties, even if the nature of those connections shifts over time. What makes cousin relationships particularly worth paying attention to is where they sit in the family structure. They’re close enough that young people feel comfortable opening up—sharing things they might not tell a friend or a parent—but without the weight and complexity that often comes with sibling relationships.

Implications for Mentoring Programs

Practitioners working with emerging adults should consider cousins an underutilized resource. Genograms and family mapping tools can help young people identify cousins as potential sources of support, mentoring, and belonging—particularly during transitions like college, career entry, or family disruption.

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