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Similarities and Differences in Adolescent Siblings’ Alcohol-Related Attitudes, Use, and Delinquency: Evidence for Convergent and Divergent Influence Processes

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Abstract

A growing body of research indicates that siblings influence each other’s risky and deviant behaviors during adolescence. Guided by research and theory on sibling similarities and differences, this study examined the operation and implications of three different influence processes—social learning, shared friends, and sibling differentiation—during adolescence. Participants included one parent and two adolescent siblings (earlier born age: M = 17.17 years, SD = 0.94; later born age: M = 14.52 years, SD = 1.27) from 326 families. Data were collected via telephone interviews. Using reports from both older and younger siblings, two-stage cluster analyses revealed three influence profiles: mutual modeling and shared friends, younger sibling admiration, and differentiation. Additional analyses revealed that mutual modeling and shared friends as well as younger sibling admiration were linked to similarities in brothers’ and sisters’ health-risk behaviors and attitudes, whereas differentiation processes were associated with divergence in siblings’ characteristics. The discussion focuses on refining the study of sibling influence, with particular attention paid to the operation and implications of both convergent and divergent influence processes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21-AA017490) to Shawn D. Whiteman. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism or the National Institutes of Health. We are extremely grateful to the families that participated in this project as well as Julia Bernard, Anna Piazza-Gardner, Uma Senguttuvan, Whitney Thomas, and a staff of undergraduate research assistants who helped carry out this investigation.

Author Contributions

SDW conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; ACJ participated in the design and coordination of the study, performed the statistical analysis, interpretation of the data, and helped draft the manuscript; JLM aided in the interpretation of the data and helped draft the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, 1202 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Shawn D. Whiteman & Alexander C. Jensen

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, 318 Health and Human Development East, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Jennifer L. Maggs

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  1. Shawn D. Whiteman
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  2. Alexander C. Jensen
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  3. Jennifer L. Maggs
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Correspondence to Shawn D. Whiteman.

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Whiteman, S.D., Jensen, A.C. & Maggs, J.L. Similarities and Differences in Adolescent Siblings’ Alcohol-Related Attitudes, Use, and Delinquency: Evidence for Convergent and Divergent Influence Processes. J Youth Adolescence 43, 687–697 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9971-z

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