The Parental and Peer Contexts of Adolescent Deviance: An Algebra of Interpersonal Influences

Estimates of the relative influence of peers and parents on adolescents' drug use and other forms of deviance have inflated the importance of peers and underestimated the influence of parents. Following a brief review of major findings in research on parental-peer linkages, sources of distortion and overestimation in peer effects are identified: reliance on cross-sectional designs, which confound selection and socialization effects; reliance on perceptual reports of friends' behaviors, which reflect projection and attribution; failure to take into account parental contributions to children's peer selection; and failure to consider genetic contributions to observed parental effects. Selected empirical studies that have estimated peer and parental effects on drug use and delinquency from relational and longitudinal designs are utilized to develop correction factors. These are incorporated in equations designed to estimate biases in peer estimates and the effects of parental contributions to peer selection. Within the limitations of the available data, I conclude that peer effects based on cross-sectional data and perceptions of peer behavior are overestimated at least by a factor of five.

[1]  Linda Louise Fletke.  Parental Involvement in Education , 1997 .

[2]  Quanwu Zhang,et al.  The influence of deviant peers on the development of boys' disruptive and delinquent behavior: A temporal analysis , 1995, Development and Psychopathology.

[3]  J. Kupersmidt,et al.  Similarity as the Basis for Children's Friendships: The Roles of Sociometric Status, Aggressive and Withdrawn Behavior, Academic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics , 1995 .

[4]  R. Aseltine,et al.  A reconsideration of parental and peer influences on adolescent deviance. , 1995, Journal of health and social behavior.

[5]  D. Kandel,et al.  The Contributions of Mothers and Fathers to the Intergenerational Transmission of Cigarette Smoking in Adolescence , 1995 .

[6]  Laurence Steinberg,et al.  Authoritative parenting and adolescent adjustment: An ecological journey. , 1995 .

[7]  J. Anthony,et al.  Parent monitoring and the incidence of drug sampling in urban elementary school children. , 1995, American journal of epidemiology.

[8]  B. Flay,et al.  Reviewing theories of adolescent substance use: organizing pieces in the puzzle. , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  F B Hu,et al.  Differential influence of parental smoking and friends' smoking on adolescent initiation and escalation of smoking. , 1994, Journal of health and social behavior.

[10]  Anne C. Fletcher,et al.  Parental monitoring and peer influences on adolescent substance use. , 1994, Pediatrics.

[11]  F. Lorenz,et al.  TWO ROUTES TO DELINQUENCY: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EARLY AND LATE STARTERS IN THE IMPACT OF PARENTING AND DEVIANT PEERS* , 1994 .

[12]  J. Hoffmann.  Investigating the age effects of family structure on adolescent Marijuana use , 1994 .

[13]  S. J. Jang,et al.  DELINQUENT PEERS, BELIEFS, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR: A LONGITUDINAL TEST OF INTERACTIONAL THEORY* , 1994 .

[14]  S. McKellar,et al.  Drug Use Amongst Peers: peer pressure or peer preference? , 1994 .

[15]  D. Chavis,et al.  Communities That Care: Action for Drug Abuse Prevention , 1994 .

[16]  K. Bauman,et al.  The contribution of influence and selection to adolescent peer group homogeneity: the case of adolescent cigarette smoking. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  D. Shaw,et al.  Developmental theories of parental contributors to antisocial behavior , 1993, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[18]  J. Hoffmann.  Exploring the Direct and Indirect Family Effects on Adolescent Drug Use , 1993 .

[19]  F. Lorenz,et al.  Effects of Parental Behavior on Tobacco Use by Young Male Adolescents. , 1993 .

[20]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Parenting practices and peer group affiliation in adolescence. , 1993, Child development.

[21]  Mark Warr,et al.  AGE, PEERS, AND DELINQUENCY* , 1993 .

[22]  D. Elliott.  Health-enhancing and health-compromising lifestyles. , 1993 .

[23]  H. Hops,et al.  The influence of parent, sibling, and peer modeling and attitudes on adolescent use of alcohol. , 1993, The International journal of the addictions.

[24]  S. Scarr,et al.  Developmental theories for the 1990s: development and individual differences. , 1992, Child development.

[25]  R. Rossem,et al.  Familial socialization and the transmission of antisocial behavior , 1992 .

[26]  K. Bauman,et al.  Mediators in the Relationship Between Parental and Peer Characteristics and Beer Drinking by Early Adolescents1 , 1991 .

[27]  C. Patterson,et al.  The Family and Children's Peer Relations , 1991 .

[28]  J. Grube,et al.  Closeness and peer group influence. , 1991 .

[29]  R. Hubbard,et al.  Developmental changes in peer factors and the influence on marijuana initiation among secondary school students , 1991, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[30]  Thomas J. Dishion,et al.  Family, School, and Behavioral Antecedents to Early Adolescent Involvement with Antisocial Peers. , 1991 .

[31]  D. Farrington,et al.  Initiation, escalation and desistance in juvenile offending and their correlates , 1991 .

[32]  J. Brook,et al.  The psychosocial etiology of adolescent drug use: a family interactional approach. , 1990, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[33]  R. Hubbard,et al.  Developmental variation in the context of marijuana initiation among adolescents. , 1990, Journal of health and social behavior.

[34]  D. Kandel,et al.  The creation of interpersonal contexts: Homophily in dyadic relationships in adolescence and young adulthood. , 1990 .

[35]  K. Urberg,et al.  Peer influence in adolescent cigarette smoking. , 1990, Addictive behaviors.

[36]  Mary A. Linzer,et al.  Effect of parental smoking classification on the association between parental and adolescent smoking. , 1990, Addictive behaviors.

[37]  F. Lorenz,et al.  Value Socialization and Peer Group Affiliation among Early Adolescents , 1989 .

[38]  D. Magnusson,et al.  Peer Influences on Adolescent Drinking , 1989 .

[39]  D. Wayne Osgood,et al.  Influence and Similarity Among Friends: An Integrative Model Applied to Incarcerated Adolescents , 1989 .

[40]  Scott D. Gest,et al.  Social networks and aggressive behavior: Peer support or peer rejection? , 1988 .

[41]  L. Whitbeck,et al.  A Multistage Social Learning Model of the Influences of Family and Peers upon Adolescent Substance Abuse , 1988 .

[42]  D. Kandel,et al.  UNDERREPORTING OF SUBSTANCE USE IN A NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL YOUTH COHORT INDIVIDUAL AND INTERVIEWER EFFECTS , 1988 .

[43]  L. A. Fisher,et al.  Influence and Selection In the Friend-adolescent Relationship: Findings from Studies of Adolescent Smoking and Drinking1 , 1988 .

[44]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[45]  H. B. Kaplan,et al.  Deviant Peers and Deviant Behavior: Further Elaboration of a Model , 1987 .

[46]  H. White,et al.  LONGITUDINAL PREDICTORS OF SERIOUS SUBSTANCE USE AND DELINQUENCY , 1987 .

[47]  D. Kandel,et al.  Processes of adolescent socialization by parents and peers. , 1987, The International journal of the addictions.

[48]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Peer-group affiliation and adolescent self-esteem: an integration of ego-identity and symbolic-interaction theories. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[49]  Karl E. Bauman,et al.  On the measurement of friend behavior in research on friend influence and selection: Findings from longitudinal studies of adolescent smoking and drinking , 1986, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[50]  J. Brook,et al.  Some models and mechanisms for explaining the impact of maternal and adolescent characteristics on adolescent stage of drug use. , 1986 .

[51]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Changes in peer and parent influence during adolescence: Longitudinal versus cross-sectional perspectives on smoking initiation. , 1986 .

[52]  Stephen A. Cernkovich,et al.  Friendships and Delinquency , 1986, American Journal of Sociology.

[53]  D. Kandel.  Processes of Peer Influences in Adolescence , 1986 .

[54]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Perceptions of peer pressure, peer conformity dispositions, and self-reported behavior among adolescents. , 1986 .

[55]  A. Swan,et al.  Relation between parents' and children's smoking behaviour and attitudes. , 1985, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[56]  J. Billy,et al.  Patterns of Adolescent Friendship and Effects on Sexual Behavior , 1985 .

[57]  T. Dishion,et al.  CONTRIBUTIONS OF FAMILIES AND PEERS TO DELINQUENCY , 1985 .

[58]  H. White,et al.  AGE DIFFERENCES IN DELINQUENCY: A TEST OF THEORY* , 1985 .

[59]  R. Loeber,et al.  Adolescent marijuana and alcohol use: the role of parents and peers revisited. , 1985, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[60]  D. Kandel,et al.  On processes of peer influences in adolescent drug use: a developmental perspective. , 1985, Advances in alcohol & substance abuse.

[61]  J. Rodgers,et al.  A Model of Friendship Similarity in Mildly Deviant Behaviors1 , 1984 .

[62]  H. White,et al.  Potential Contributions of the Life Span Developmental Approach to the Study of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use: The Rutgers Health and Human Development Project, a Working Model , 1984 .

[63]  S. Scarr,et al.  How people make their own environments: a theory of genotype greater than environment effects. , 1983, Child development.

[64]  D. Kandel,et al.  Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescents' Educational Plans: Some Further Evidence , 1981, American Journal of Sociology.

[65]  D. Kandel.  Drug and Drinking Behavior Among Youth , 1980 .

[66]  L. Lanza-Kaduce,et al.  Social learning and deviant behavior: a specific test of a general theory. , 1979, American sociological review.

[67]  D. Kandel.  Homophily, Selection, and Socialization in Adolescent Friendships , 1978, American Journal of Sociology.

[68]  D. Kandel.  On Variations in Adolescent Subcultures , 1978 .

[69]  Jere M. Cohen.  Sources of peer group homogeneity. , 1977 .

[70]  G. Tanabe.  Youth in Two Worlds. , 1973 .

[71]  Nathan W. Ackerman,et al.  THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY , 1964 .

[72]  S. Glueck,et al.  Predicting delinquency and crime , 1960 .