Subject(s)
Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Family/psychology , Sibling Relations , Social Adjustment , Adolescent , Adult , Depression/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Male , Parent-Child Relations , ParentingSubject(s)
Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Family/psychology , Parent-Child Relations , Adolescent , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Recent genetic evidence suggests that the most important environmental influences on normal and pathologic development are those that are not shared by siblings in the same family. We sought to determine the relationship between differences in parenting styles and depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior in adolescence, and to compare the influence of these nonshared experiences with genetic influences. METHODS: We studied 708 families with at least two same-sexed adolescent siblings who were monozygotic twins (93 families), dizygotic twins (99 families), ordinary siblings (95 families), full siblings in step families (181 families), half siblings in step families (110 families), and genetically unrelated siblings in step families (130 families). Data on parenting style were collected by questionnaire and by video recording of interaction between parents and children. RESULTS: Almost 60% of variance in adolescent antisocial behavior and 37% of variance in depressive symptoms could be accounted for by conflictual and negative parental behavior directed specifically at the adolescent. In contrast, when a parent directed harsh, aggressive, explosive, and inconsistent parenting toward the sibling, we found less psychopathologic outcome in the adolescent. CONCLUSIONS: Parenting behavior directed specifically at each child in the family is a major correlate of symptoms in adolescents. Furthermore, harsh parental behavior directed at a sibling may have protective effects for adolescents, a phenomenon we call the "siblin barricade."
Subject(s)
Antisocial Personality Disorder/genetics , Depressive Disorder/genetics , Family Health , Social Environment , Adolescent , Adult , Antisocial Personality Disorder/epidemiology , Antisocial Personality Disorder/etiology , Child , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/etiology , Diseases in Twins/epidemiology , Diseases in Twins/genetics , Female , Humans , Male , Parent-Child Relations , Parenting/psychology , Regression AnalysisABSTRACT
The effects on neonatal outcome of maternal age, sociodemographic status, and prenatal health and behavior were assessed in a representative national sample of youth (National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth). Primiparous women were categorized into four age-at-birth groups: 13 to 15 year old, 16 to 18 year old, 19 to 21 year old, and 22 to 30 year old. Younger mothers were lighter, gained less weight during pregnancy, and sought prenatal care later in their pregnancy. Neonates of the youngest mothers on average had lower birth weights, and shorter gestation periods. There were significant effects of maternal age, race, education, and pregnancy weight gain on the probability of giving birth to a premature or low-birth-weight infant. Our results also implicated the time of first prenatal care in the occurrence of premature delivery. We believe that interventions should emphasize the prevention of pregnancy in young adolescents and amelioration of the adverse prenatal conditions associated with living in lower socioeconomic conditions.
