Do Older Siblings Influence Younger Siblings in Bad Behavior?

Social Activities

• Your children spend most of their free time together playing in the yard or socializing with peers. In your absence, it is difficult to monitor their progress. This leaves the younger kids emulating whatever their seniors are doing. In a report detailing a 2005 study published by the journal "Addiction," a team of researchers at the Brown Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I., established that older siblings have greater social influence on younger siblings than their parents do. The study reports that younger siblings are less likely to smoke if their parents smoke, but are more likely to smoke if older siblings do. Ensure that your older children are well behaved, and let them understand that they are their younger siblings' role models.

Sibling Conflict

• Siblings might not be the best of friends. As they approach teenage years, the older children might feel younger siblings are receiving more parental attention. They can become rivals and develop a culture of hatred among them. Writing in a 2005 article published by the "Brigham Young University" magazine, Sue Bergin, a family focus writer, notes that sibling conflict is a form of antisocial behavior, and can affect your children negatively. Teach your children how to resolve domestic conflicts and encourage the older ones to appreciate that younger siblings need more parental attention.

Academic Institutions

• When you enroll your children in the same school, you don̵7;t expect it to be an avenue for the older ones to mislead younger siblings. However, if older children interact with peers that fight after school, younger siblings are likely to be influenced into engaging in violent behavior. If the older children cheat on tests or take things that don't belong to them, younger siblings can follow suit. According to a 1995 article at Athealth.com, a leading provider of mental health information and services, parents must help their children learn to act responsibly in their everyday lives. Focus on teaching them religious and moral values as a foundation for good behavior.

Source of Drugs

• Older children who are ill behaved can be a source of drugs such as marijuana, hashish and opium, and other substances that promote negative behavior. Younger children who are exposed to such drugs can be influenced into abusing them by their older siblings. A 1986 study report published by the journal "Substance Use and Misuse" stresses that older siblings who are frequent drug users influence drug-using behavior in younger siblings. Educate your older children about the dangers of drug and substance abuse. You can punish them if they are disobeying your instructions, in their own circumstances, and to prevent them from passing the bad behavior on to younger siblings.