{"id":46251,"date":"2007-04-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/siblings-pass-on-negative-behavior\/"},"modified":"2007-04-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:50:36","slug":"siblings-pass-on-negative-behavior","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/siblings-pass-on-negative-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Siblings Pass On Negative Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way. A girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is four to six times as likely to become a teen mom herself, says Patricia East, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, San Diego.<\/p>\n\n<p>The same pattern holds for substance abuse. According to a paper published in the <em>Journal of Drug Issues<\/em>, younger siblings whose older siblings drink are twice as likely to pick up the habit. When it comes to smoking, the risk increases fourfold.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[410],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3383,3511,3519,3559,3569,3572,3601,3614,3644,3746,3829,3830,3960,3961,3982,4056,4091,4160,4264,5130,5314],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-46251","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-adolescence","tax_ctp_tags-body-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-boys","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-choice","tax_ctp_tags-church","tax_ctp_tags-church-life","tax_ctp_tags-community","tax_ctp_tags-decision","tax_ctp_tags-drinking","tax_ctp_tags-drugs","tax_ctp_tags-family","tax_ctp_tags-family-ministry","tax_ctp_tags-fellowship","tax_ctp_tags-girls","tax_ctp_tags-grandparents-day","tax_ctp_tags-home","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-teens","tax_ctp_tags-youth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Siblings Pass On Negative Behavior - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/siblings-pass-on-negative-behavior\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Siblings Pass On Negative Behavior - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way. A girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is four to six times as likely to become a teen mom herself, says Patricia East, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, San Diego. 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