An investigation examined whether perceived use of sibling functional communication skills differed across the life-span. Participants were recruited through university students enrolled in an introductory communication course at a southern university. All students received extra credit for recruiting two participants. Potential participants were required to have at least one sibling. Participants completed the Communication Functions Questionnaire (Burleson and Samter, 1990), in addition to providing demographic data. Three significant findings were noted: (1) with the exception of referential skill, no significant differences in perceived use of functional communication skills emerged across the life-span; (2) affectively-oriented functional communication skills were used more frequently by siblings than nonaffectively-oriented skills; and (3) female siblings were perceived to use comforting, ego support, and conflict management skills more so than male siblings. (Contains 18 references and a table of data). (Author/NKA)