Page "Imprinting (psychology)" Paragraph 15

In the case of the Israeli kibbutzim ( collective farms ), children were reared somewhat communally in peer groups, based on age, not biological relation.

A study of the marriage patterns of these children later in life revealed that out of the nearly 3, 000 marriages that occurred across the kibbutz system, only fourteen were between children from the same peer group.

Of those fourteen, none had been reared together during the first six years of life.

This result provides evidence not only that the Westermarck effect is demonstrable but that it operates during the period from birth to the age of six.