sibship size and sibling delinquency.

Research findings consistently document a positive correlation between family size and delinquency. However, no study has yet provided a complete explanation for the effects of family size on delinquency. In this paper, we review several of the explanations of this correlation advanced in previous work. Explanations based on demographic or background characteristics (such as birth order and ethnicity) and on social control theory are rejected. We find that exposure to sibling delinquency seems to provide an explanation of the effects of sibship size on self-reported delinquency. We argue that this finding is consistent with propositions derived from social learning theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]