Familial influences on television viewing and aggression: A sibling study

✍ Scribed by Dr. David C. Rowe; Sarah E. Herstand

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 670 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0096-140X
• DOI: 10.1002/1098-2337(1986)12:2<111::aid-ab2480120205>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

Familial influences on aggressive behavior and TV viewing were investigated in a survey of adolescent siblings. Same-sex siblings resembled one another in aggression (brothers, r = .59; sisters, r = .52) and in their exposure to violent TV programs; opposite-sex siblings were dissimilar. Within individuals, the frequency of watching crime and action programs correlated nonsignificantly with aggression. Two other variables, however, were associated with aggression: identification with aggression and aggression consequences. These relationships also held up between families (BF, covariance of siblings' averages) and within families (WF, covariance of siblings' differences). The latter WF relationship indicated that one sibling was typically the more extreme on both aggression and its correlate than a brother or sister. These results were interpreted in tight of behavioral genetic data that suggest substantial genetic influences, few common environmental influences, and large within-family environmental influences on personality development.