SIBLING RESEMBLANCE IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL YOUTH SURVEY*

Analyses based on individual- and family-level self-report data indicate that (1) delinquency incidents are disproportionately concentrated among households with adolescents, (2) families do not specialize in delinquency by producing certain types of offenders, and (3) adolescent levels of delinquency are predicted equally as well by the offending of an older sibling. the offending of a younger sibling, or by the average level of offending among all other adolescents in the household. Three sets of family characteristics (socioeconomic status, composition, and functioning) are used in multivariate analyses to examine the association among sibling delinquency levels. while sibling composition and family functioning are significant predictors of adolescent delinquency, only family functioning accounts for a small proportion of sibling resemblance in offending. These analyses add to the growing body of research that suggests that sibling similarity in delinquency requires additional consideration in theoretical and empirical investigations of juvenile offending.