Abstract
Youth who receive comparatively poorer parental treatment than a sibling are at risk for maladaptive behaviors in a variety of domains, but research has yet to examine links with adolescents’ health-related behaviors nor consider how those links may vary based on adolescents’ personality traits, namely conscientiousness and agreeableness. Two siblings (n = 590 adolescents; 53% female; Mage = 15.86, SD = 1.73) from 295 families reported on their differential conflict and closeness with their fathers and mothers as well as on their personality, sleep habits, exercise habits, and general health habits. Multilevel modeling revealed that, generally, the less conscientious adolescents had better health habits when they had comparatively warmer relationships with their mothers. Less conscientiousness adolescents may be less distressed by inequality in the family, and thus may experience positive effects of relatively better treatment.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21-AA017490) to S.D.W. 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. The funding agency played no role in study design, data collection, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit for publication. The authors declare no potential or perceived conflicts of interest. A.C.J. and H.B.A. wrote the first draft of the manuscript.
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A.J. contributed to this study by working on data collection, conceptualization, analysis, and writing of the manuscript; H.A. helped with conceptualization, analysis, and manuscript preparation; E.R. helped with conceptualization and manuscript preparation; J.C. helped with conceptualization and manuscript preparation; S.W. helped with data collection, conceptualization, and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21-AA017490) to S.D.W. 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. The funding agency played no role in study design, data collection, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit for publication.
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Jensen, A.C., Apsley, H.B., Rolan, E.P. et al. Parental Differential Treatment of Siblings and Adolescents’ Health-Related Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Personality. J Youth Adolescence 49, 150–161 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01076-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01076-1