Peer influence, friend selection, and gender: How network processes shape adolescent smoking, drinking, and delinquency

We examine gender differences in the extent to which the social network processes of peer influence and friend selection explain why adolescents tend to exhibit similar risky behaviors as their friends for three problem behaviors (smoking, drinking, and delinquency). Using dynamic Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models (SAOMs), we analyze five waves of data on a large sample of 13,214 adolescents from 51 friendship networks. While both processes explain patterns of risky activities for girls and boys, the delinquent behavior of girls is more susceptible to influence and girls are especially likely to select friends who have similar smoking behaviors to their own.

[1]  Paul Vedder,et al.  Peers and academic achievement: A longitudinal study on selection and socialization effects of in-class friends , 2016 .

[2]  J. Howard,et al.  Gendered Situations, Gendered Selves: A Gender Lens on Social Psychology , 1996 .

[3]  T. Snijders.  The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics , 2001 .

[4]  D. G. Perry,et al.  Gender and Adolescent Development. , 2011 .

[5]  S. Değirmencioğlu,et al.  Close friend and group influence on adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use. , 1997 .

[6]  Dana L. Haynie,et al.  Gender, Friendship Networks, and Delinquency: A Dynamic Network Approach. , 2014, Criminology : an interdisciplinary journal.

[7]  J. Moody,et al.  DELINQUENCY AND THE STRUCTURE OF ADOLESCENT PEER GROUPS. , 2011, Criminology : an interdisciplinary journal.

[8]  D. Cressey,et al.  Principles of Criminology. , 1947 .

[9]  Barbara J. Risman,et al.  Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition , 1998 .

[10]  Ciro Cattuto,et al.  Gender homophily from spatial behavior in a primary school: A sociometric study , 2013, Soc. Networks.

[11]  Angela R. Gover,et al.  The Influence of Delinquen Peers on Delinquency , 2005 .

[12]  H. White,et al.  The Self and Mental Health: Self-Salience and the Emergence of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems∗ , 2005, Journal of health and social behavior.

[13]  A. Bandura.  Social learning theory , 1977 .

[14]  James Moody,et al.  Peers and the Emergence of Alcohol Use: Influence and Selection Processes in Adolescent Friendship Networks. , 2013, Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence.

[15]  Weihua An,et al.  Multilevel meta network analysis with application to studying network dynamics of network interventions , 2015, Soc. Networks.

[16]  René Veenstra,et al.  INFLUENCE AND SELECTION PROCESSES IN WEAPON CARRYING DURING ADOLESCENCE: THE ROLES OF STATUS, AGGRESSION, AND VULNERABILITY* , 2010 .

[17]  David R Schaefer,et al.  Health and the Structure of Adolescent Social Networks , 2010, Journal of health and social behavior.

[18]  P. Giordano,et al.  Relationships in Adolescence , 2003 .

[19]  Daniel T. Ragan,et al.  Social Networks and the Diffusion of Adolescent Problem Behavior: Reliable Estimates of Selection and Influence from Sixth Through Ninth Grades , 2015, Prevention Science.

[20]  Michael R. Gottfredson,et al.  A general theory of crime. , 1992 .

[21]  Robert W. Faris,et al.  Toxic Ties , 2016 .

[22]  J. Nonnemaker,et al.  Promoting school connectedness: evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. , 2002, The Journal of school health.

[23]  Sebastian Pink,et al.  Selection and influence processes in academic achievement - More pronounced for girls? , 2018, Soc. Networks.

[24]  T. Snijders,et al.  A multilevel network study of the effects of delinquent behavior on friendship evolution , 2003 .

[25]  D. Eder,et al.  The Cultural Production and Reproduction of Gender: The Effect of Extracurricular Activities on Peer-Group Culture. , 1987 .

[26]  Kenneth A. Frank,et al.  The Social Dynamics of Mathematics Coursetaking in High School1 , 2008, American Journal of Sociology.

[27]  Gary Sweeten.  Scaling Criminal Offending , 2012 .

[28]  J. Benenson,et al.  Gender Differences in Social Networks , 1990 .

[29]  L. Whitbeck,et al.  Parenting factors, social skills, and value commitments as precursors to school failure, involvement with deviant peers, and delinquent behavior , 1991, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[30]  Christian Steglich,et al.  Smoking-based selection and influence in gender-segregated friendship networks: a social network analysis of adolescent smoking. , 2010, Addiction.

[31]  N. Christakis,et al.  Social Networks and Health , 2008 .

[32]  K. Bauman,et al.  Peer influence on adolescent drug use. , 1994, The American psychologist.

[33]  Cooper Ml,et al.  Substance use and sexual risk taking among Black adolescents and White adolescents. , 1994 .

[34]  V. Buskens,et al.  The Interplay Between Gender and Structure: Dynamics of Adolescent Friendships in Single‐Gender Classes and Mixed‐Gender Classes , 2015 .

[35]  H. Sinclair,et al.  Gender Rules: Same- and Cross-Gender Friendships Norms , 2012 .

[36]  M. McPherson,et al.  Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks , 2001 .

[37]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Deviant behavior;: A social learning approach , 1973 .

[38]  R. Engels,et al.  Influence and selection processes in friendships and adolescent smoking behaviour: the role of parental smoking. , 2004, Journal of adolescence.

[39]  Tom A. B. Snijders,et al.  Introduction to stochastic actor-based models for network dynamics , 2010, Soc. Networks.

[40]  René Veenstra,et al.  Network–Behavior Dynamics , 2013 .

[41]  D. Wayne Osgood,et al.  Popularity trajectories and substance use in early adolescence , 2011, Soc. Networks.

[42]  Carter T. Butts,et al.  Alcohol Use among Adolescent Youth: The Role of Friendship Networks and Family Factors in Multiple School Studies , 2015, PloS one.

[43]  E. Maccoby,et al.  The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together. Family and Public Policy Series. , 1998 .

[44]  Per Block,et al.  Reciprocity, transitivity, and the mysterious three-cycle , 2015, Soc. Networks.

[45]  M. Holmila,et al.  Gender differences in drinking: why do they still exist? , 2005, Addiction.

[46]  J. McLeod,et al.  Adolescent Mental Health, Behavior Problems, and Academic Achievement , 2012, Journal of health and social behavior.

[47]  Shelley J. Correll,et al.  Unpacking the Gender System , 2004 .

[48]  Lynn Smith-Lovin,et al.  THE GENDER SYSTEM AND INTERACTION , 1999 .

[49]  Tobias H. Stark,et al.  Disentangling the relation between young immigrants' host country identification and their friendships with natives , 2016, Soc. Networks.

[50]  D. Osgood,et al.  Falling Behind: Lingering Costs of the High School Transition for Youth Friendships and Grades , 2018 .

[51]  M. Zuckerman.  Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of Sensation Seeking , 1994 .

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

[53]  C. Steglich,et al.  DYNAMIC NETWORKS AND BEHAVIOR: SEPARATING SELECTION FROM INFLUENCE: separating selection from influence , 2010 .

[54]  Nancy J. Chodorow,et al.  The Reproduction of Mothering , 1999 .

[55]  Tom A. B. Snijders,et al.  Homophily and assimilation among sportactive adolescent substance users , 2006 .

[56]  K. Rudolph,et al.  A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[57]  Jeroen Weesie,et al.  Friendship and Alcohol Use in Early Adolescence: A Multilevel Social Network Approach , 2011 .

[58]  M. Kerr,et al.  Alcohol use and friendship dynamics: selection and socialization in early-, middle-, and late-adolescent peer networks. , 2012, Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs.