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Early Sex, Drugs More Common Among Teens With Half-Siblings, Study SuggestsSUNDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Teens who have half-siblings -- brothers or sisters with a different father -- are more likely to use drugs and have sex by age 15 than teens with only full siblings, according to a new study. Although this family scenario isn't new, researchers say it's becoming more common as a growing number of unmarried people have children. In conducting the study, researchers from Bowling Green State University and Iowa State University examined how "multi-partnered fertility" -- re-partnering and having more children -- affects children's drug use and sexual behavior. "We find that first-born adolescents with half-siblings with the same mother but a different father do have less favorable outcomes compared to their peers with only full siblings, even after accounting for the mother's background characteristics, socioeconomic factors the child experienced growing up, and family instability and structure," said researcher Karen Benjamin Guzzo, an assistant professor of sociology at Bowling Green. Read entire article... |
