"Best Bets" to Prevent Pregnancies and Births:
Focus on Teens with Older Siblings Who Are Teen Parents

Adolescent girls with an older sister who gave birth as an adolescent perceive younger ages as appropriate for first intercourse and are more accepting of adolescent childbearing (East, 1996a; East, 1996b), while younger brothers of pregnant and parenting teens are more accepting of nonmarital childbearing, ascribe more importance to childbearing and perceive fewer problems related to early childbearing (East, 1996b). Females and males with multiple parenting sisters have an increased likelihood of being sexually experienced, while females, but not males, with multiple parenting sisters have more permissive sexual and childbearing attitudes (East & Kiernan, 2001). Research has also documented that having an older sister who was pregnant or has given birth is associated with higher rates of intercourse for adolescents of both genders (East, 1996b; East & Kiernan, 2001; Miller, 1998).