Parents often blame peer pressure whenever their kids or teenagers act out. A new study revealed, however, that it is actually sibling influence that affects people more than they realise.
The study conducted by scientists from Florida Atlantic University and Quebec, Canada showed that siblings are actually responsible for the spread of bad behaviour among adolescents — not their genetics, peers, or parents.
"Sibling influence on children's behaviour rivals that of their peers," lead author and Professor of Florida Atlantic's psychology department Professor Brett Laursen told the Daily Mail. "We spend a lot of time worrying about peer pressure and what happens when children hang around with the 'wrong friends,' but we spend too little time worrying about whether siblings are a source of untoward influence."
Laursen said they asked themselves the question: "Must [people] hang around with drinkers in order to increase [their] drinking, or is it enough to simply hang around with rule-breakers?" The results to this question changes people's attitudes about non-conformity.
They conducted their study on pairs of identical and fraternal twins in Quebec. They discovered that siblings play a pivotal role in the escalation of personal behaviours over time.
"The closer in age we are to our siblings, the more important and influential that sibling is," said Laursen. "Many twins feel closer to their siblings than they do to their friends. This is not surprising because relationships with siblings are obligatory — no friendships have lasted as long as your sibling relationship."
Hence, the more delinquent one sibling is, the more delinquent his brother or sister will be as well. This chain reaction can even promote other issues such as alcohol abuse, researchers revealed.
Laursen said the same rules apply to other close relationships — time together plus closeness equals influence.
"We found that problems actually spread between siblings within problem behaviour domains — one sibling's delinquency affects the other sibling's delinquency," he added.
