Adolescent Sibling Associations among Alcohol, Cannabis, and Sexual Risk Behavior: A Test of Interdependence

Abstract

Background

Although siblings are conceptualized as a salient social influence during adolescence, few studies have examined how adolescent siblings influence each other’s substance use and risky sexual behavior. Objectives: In this study, we investigated the influence of alcohol use days, cannabis use days, and cannabis and alcohol co-use days on the sexual risk behavior of siblings while accounting for dyadic influence.

Methods

At the baseline visit for a randomized controlled trial for adolescents referred due to parents’ concerns about their substance use (“referred adolescents”; n = 99; M_age=15.95; 38.38% female), we assessed alcohol and cannabis use days as well as sexual risk behavior of the referred adolescents and their sibling (M_age=15.03; 51.52% female). We computed the number of days in the 30 days prior to the baseline that alcohol and cannabis use occurred on the same day. Using a cross-sectional actor partner interdependence model, we tested two models of how adolescents’ substance use is associated with their own (“actor effect”) and their siblings’ (“partner effect”) sexual risk behavior—one model for alcohol and cannabis use, and one model for daily co-use.

Results

For referred adolescents and their siblings, within an individual, greater alcohol, cannabis, and daily co-use was significantly associated with sexual risk behavior (actor effects). Furthermore, more sibling co-use days was positively associated with referred adolescent sexual risk behavior (partner effect), representing interdependence.

Conclusion

These findings confirm the influence siblings have on one another’s risky behavior in adolescence and have implications for prevention and intervention efforts for adolescent substance use.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• siblings
• cannabis
• alcohol
• sexual risk behavior

Declaration of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by NIAAA Grant R01AA017659 from the National Institutes of Health (PI: Spirito). Sarah A. Thomas was partially supported by Institutional Development Award Number U54GM115677 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, which funds Advance Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR). Additional funding includes K23DA050911 (PI: Thomas), K01DA048135 (PI: Micalizzi), F32AA028414 (PI: Meisel). NIAAA/NIDA had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.