Abstract
Seeking to reduce problematic peer influence is a prominent theme of programs to prevent adolescent problem behavior. To support the refinement of this aspect of prevention programming, we examined peer influence and selection processes for three problem behaviors (delinquency, alcohol use, and smoking). We assessed not only the overall strengths of these peer processes, but also their consistency versus variability across settings. We used dynamic stochastic actor-based models to analyze five waves of friendship network data across sixth through ninth grades for a large sample of U.S. adolescents. Our sample included two successive grade cohorts of youth in 26 school districts participating in the PROSPER study, yielding 51 longitudinal social networks based on respondents’ friendship nominations. For all three self-reported antisocial behaviors, we found evidence of both peer influence and selection processes tied to antisocial behavior. There was little reliable variance in these processes across the networks, suggesting that the statistical imprecision of the peer influence and selection estimates in previous studies likely accounts for inconsistencies in results. Adolescent friendship networks play a strong role in shaping problem behavior, but problem behaviors also inform friendship choices. In addition to preferring friends with similar levels of problem behavior, adolescents tend to choose friends who engage in problem behaviors, thus creating broader diffusion.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akers, R.L. (1985). Deviant behavior: A social learning approach (3rd ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Aseltine, R.H., Jr. (1995). A reconsideration of parental and peer influences on adolescent deviance. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36, 103–121.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Bauman, K.E., & Ennett, S.T. (1996). On the importance of peer influence for adolescent drug use: Commonly neglected considerations. Addiction, 91, 185–198.
Botvin, G.J., & Griffin, K.W. (2004). Life skills training: Empirical findings and future directions. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 25, 211–232.
Ellickson, P.L., Miller, L., Robyn, A., Wildflower, L.A., & Zellman, G.L. (2000). Project ALERT. Los Angeles: The BEST Foundation for a Drug-Free Tomorrow.
Feinberg, M.E., Solmeyer, A.R., & McHale, S.M. (2012). The third rail of family systems: Sibling relations, mental and behavioral health, and preventive intervention in childhood and adolescence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15, 43–57.
Friedkin, N.E. (1998). A structural theory of social influence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gest, S.D., Osgood, D.W., Feinberg, M.E., Bierman, K.L., & Moody, J. (2011). Strengthening prevention program theories and evaluations: Contributions from social network analysis. Prevention Science, 12, 349–360.
Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1950). Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency. New York: Commonwealth Fund.
Hall, J.A., & Valente, T.W. (2007). Adolescent smoking networks: The effects of influence and selection on future smoking. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 3054–3059.
Hansen, W.B., & Dusenbury, L. (2004). All Stars Plus: A competence and motivation enhancement approach to prevention. Health Education, 104, 371–381.
Haynie, D.L., & Osgood, D.W. (2005). Reconsidering peers and delinquency: How do peers matter? Social Forces, 84, 1109–1130.
Kiuru, N., Burk, W.J., Laursen, B., Salmela-Aro, K., & Nurmi, J.E. (2010). Pressure to drink but not to smoke: Disentangling selection and socialization in adolescent peer networks and peer groups. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 801–812.
Knecht, A.B..., Burk, W.J., Weesie, J., & Steglich, C. (2011). Friendship and alcohol use in early adolescence: A multilevel social network approach. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 475–487.
Lospinoso, J.A., Schweinberger, M., Snijders, T.A.B..., & Ripley, R.M. (2011). Advancing and accounting for time heterogeneity in stochastic actor oriented modes. Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, 5, 147–176.
McGloin, J.M. (2009). Delinquency balance: Revisiting peer influence. Criminology, 47, 439–477.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J.M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444.
Mercken, L., Snijders, T.A.B..., Steglich, C., & de Vries, H. (2009). Dynamics of adolescent friendship networks and smoking behavior: Social network analyses in six European countries. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 1506–1514.
Moffitt, T.E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
Osgood, D.W., Feinberg, M.E., Gest, S.D., Moody, J., Ragan, D.T., Spoth, R., et al. (2013a). Effects of PROSPER on the influence potential of prosocial versus antisocial youth in adolescent friendship networks. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, 174–179.
Osgood, D.W., Ragan, D.T., Wallace, L., Gest, S.D., Feinberg, M.E., & Moody, J. (2013b). Peers and the emergence of alcohol use: Influence and selection processes in adolescent friendship networks. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 500–512.
Payne, D.C., & Cornwell, B. (2007). Reconsidering peer influences on delinquency: Do less proximate contacts matter? Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 23, 127–149.
Popp, D., Laursen, B., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Burk, W.K. (2008). Modeling homophily over time with an actor–partner interdependence model. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1028–1039.
Ragan, D.T. (2014). Revisiting “what they think”: Adolescent drinking and the importance of peer beliefs. Criminology, 52, 488–513.
Raudenbush, S.W., & Bryk, A.S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Schaefer, D.R., Haas, S.A., & Bishop, N.J. (2012). A dynamic model of US adolescents’ smoking and friendship networks. American Journal of Public Health, 102, e12–e18.
Snijders, T.A.B... (2001). The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics. Sociological Methodology, 31, 361–395.
Snijders, T.A.B... (2005). Models for longitudinal network data. In P.J. Carrington, J. Scott, & S. Wasserman (Eds.), Models and methods in social network analysis (pp. 214–247). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spoth, R., Redmond, C., Clair, S., Shin, C., Greenberg, M., & Feinberg, M. (2011). Preventing substance misuse through community–university partnerships: Randomized controlled trial outcomes 4½ years past baseline. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40, 440–447.
Spoth, R., Redmond, C., Shin, C., Greenberg, M., Clair, S., & Feinberg, M. (2007). Substance-use outcomes at 18 months past baseline: The PROSPER community–university partnership trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32, 395–402.
Steglich, C., Snijders, T.A.B..., & Pearson, M. (2010). Dynamic networks and behavior: Separating selection from influence. Sociological Methodology, 40, 329–393.
Sweeten, G. (2012). Scaling criminal offending. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 28, 533–557.
Thornberry, T.P., Lizotte, A.J., Krohn, M.D., Farnworth, M., & Jang, S.J. (1994). Delinquent peers, beliefs, and delinquent behavior: A longitudinal test of interactional theory. Criminology, 32, 47–83.
Valente, T.W. (2010). Social networks and health: Models, methods, and applications. New York: Oxford University Press.
Acknowledgments
Grants from the W.T. Grant Foundation (8316), National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA018225), and National Institute of Child Health and Development (R24-HD041025) supported this research. The analyses used data from PROSPER, a project directed by R. L. Spoth, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (RO1-DA013709) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA14702).
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Osgood, D.W., Feinberg, M.E. & Ragan, D.T. Social Networks and the Diffusion of Adolescent Problem Behavior: Reliable Estimates of Selection and Influence from Sixth Through Ninth Grades. Prev Sci 16, 832–843 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0558-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0558-7