Associations between family cohesion and adolescent siblings' externalizing behavior.

This study asked whether family cohesion, a measure of whole family functioning, was associated with adolescent siblings' externalizing problems, controlling for the quality of each sibling's relationship with his or her parents. The sample included 93 families (mothers, fathers, and 2 adolescent siblings). Family cohesion was measured from videotaped observations of parents and 2 of their adolescent children discussing family conflict and limit setting. Adolescents reported on hostility in their relationships with mothers and fathers, and parents rated adolescents' externalizing problems. Results from multilevel modeling showed that family cohesion was negatively associated with adolescents' externalizing problems, independent of variance explained by hostility in dyadic parent-child relationships. Results support family systems theory, suggesting that whole family functioning has implications for adolescents' behavioral problems beyond those accounted for by dyadic family relationships.