Sibling popularity: A moderator of sibling influence for adolescent substance use

Abstract

Sibling substance use is a known correlate of adolescent substance use. Yet, not all siblings are equally influential. Sibling influence has been found to vary by age gap, sex and birth order. Little research, however, has investigated whether siblings' peer context is also a source of variation. The present study tested whether more popular siblings were more influential for adolescent use of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana. Data were obtained from sibling pairs in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Findings indicate that older siblings have more influence on younger sibling marijuana use when they have more friends. These findings contribute to prior work examining which siblings are more influential and highlight the need to consider siblings as part of a greater peer context.

• Adolescence
• alcohol use
• friendship
• marijuana use
• popularity
• siblings
• substance use initiation
• smoking

Acknowledgements

Special acknowledgement is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisel for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health Data Files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth).

Declaration of interest

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the Penn State Population Research Institute which is funded by the National Institutes of Health under award number R24HD041025. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the article.