GENETIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO ADOLESCENTS EXTRAFAMILIAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS - TEACHERS, BEST FRIENDS, AND PEERS

The purpose of the present study was to investigate genetic and enviro nmental contributions to individual differences in adolescents' social interactions outside the family. We investigated sibling resemblance for adolescents' reports of interactions with best friends and teacher s, and parents' perceptions of adolescents' peer groups in 701 same-se x adolescent sibling pairs aged 10-18, using a twin, full sibling, and step sibling design. Our goals were to assess the magnitude of siblin g resemblance, and to disentangle resemblance due to shared genetic he ritage from that due to shared environmental experiences. Substantial genetic influence was found for parents' perceptions of adolescents' p eer groups. Adolescents' reports of positive interactions with teacher s and best friends also showed significant genetic influence. In contr ast, individual differences in adolescents' reports of negative intera ctions with teachers and best friends showed no significant genetic in fluence. In addition, most environmental influences far social interac tions with teachers, best friends, and peers were largely of the nonsh ared variety, suggesting that growing up in the same family does not m ake adolescents similar in their extrafamilial social interactions.