NCJ Number
129920
Journal
Journal of Family Issues Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1990) Pages: 274-293
Date Published
1990
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Data from the Carolina Population Center's Adolescent Sexuality (ADSEX) Project which contain linkable responses of siblings, best friends, and other friends were used to quantify the degree of overlap and separation between adolescent sexual activity and mildly deviant behavior, i.e., behaviors which are not illegal but of which parents would disapprove.
Abstract
The conceptual approach considers relationships between siblings and friends within an adolescent's environment as a source of influence on adolescent behavior. Data were available to construct sibling pairs representing 500 children from 250 independent families. The sample yielded 1,711 female best friend pairs, 3,728 other female friend pairs, 1,705 male best friend pairs, and 3,734 other male friend pairs. Both sexual experience and deviance of relevant others significantly predicted respondent's sexual experience and respondent's mildly deviant behavior. The behavior of siblings and of best friends contained separate and significant predictability and was more predictive than that of other friends. Same-sex siblings and same-sex friends generally were more alike than opposite-sex siblings and friends, especially regarding sexual experience. These patterns suggest that elements of the family and friendship environment work to create behavioral similarity. 48 references and 5 tables (Author abstract modified)