Premium
Sibling Delinquency and the Family Environment: Shared and Unshared Influences
Author(s) -
Rowe David C.,
Rodgers Joseph L.,
MeseckBushey Sylvia
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03595.x
Subject(s) - sibling , juvenile delinquency , psychology , developmental psychology , sibling relationship , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , social psychology , medical emergency , medicine
Few family studies of delinquency have focused on siblings. We use a sibling research design to evaluate shared (i.e., family) and unshared environmental influences on delinquency. The 15–22‐year‐old adolescent siblings were nationally representative, and uniquely, in families of 2 to 4 siblings. No unshared family environmental influences were found for sisters and for mixed‐sex siblings, but they may exist for brothers. The data suggested substantial shared environmental and/or shared genetic influences for siblings: the median sibling correlations, averaged over family sizes, were: brothers, r = .30; sisters, r = .28; and mixed sex, r = .21.