Close friend and group influence on adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use.

The relative influence of adolescents' closest friends and their friendship group on their cigarette smoking and alcohol use was investigated in a short-term, longitudinal study of 1,028 students in the 6th, 8th and 10th grades in 2 school systems. The amount of influence over the school year was modest in magnitude and came from the closest friend for initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only the friendship group use predicted transition into current cigarette use, whereas only the close friend use predicted transition into current alcohol use. Both group and close friends independently contributed to the prediction of adolescents' drinking to intoxication. No difference in the amount of influence, was found between stable and unstable close friendships or friendship groups; neither grade nor gender of the adolescents related to the amount of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes three: Selection, influence, and de-selection processes of depression in adolescent friendship networks.

The authors of this study tested a selection–influence–de-selection model of depression. This model explains friendship influence processes (i.e., friends' depressive symptoms increase adolescents' depressive symptoms) while controlling for two processes: friendship selection (i.e., selection of friends with similar levels of depressive symptoms) and friendship de-selection (i.e., de-selection of friends with dissimilar levels of depressive symptoms). Further, this study is unique in that these processes were studied both inside and outside the school context. The authors used a social network approach to examine 5 annual measurements of data in a large (N =847) community-based network of adolescents and their friends (M = 14.3 years old at first measurement). Results supported the proposed model: adolescents tend to select friends with similar levels of depression, and friends may increase each other's depressive symptoms as relationships endure. These two processes were most salient outside the school context. At the same time, friendships seemed to be ended more frequently if adolescents' level of depressive symptoms was dissimilar to that of their friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contribution of extracurricular activities to adolescent friendships: New insights through social network analysis.

Extracurricular activities are settings that are theorized to help adolescents maintain existing friendships and develop new friendships. The overarching goal of the current investigation was to examine whether coparticipating in school-based extracurricular activities supported adolescents' school-based friendships. We used social network methods and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether dyadic friendship ties were more likely to exist among activity coparticipants while controlling for alternative friendship processes, namely dyadic homophily (e.g., demographic and behavioral similarities) and network-level processes (e.g., triadic closure). Results provide strong evidence that activities were associated with current friendships and promoted the formation of new friendships. These associations varied based on school level (i.e., middle vs. high school) and activity type (i.e., sports, academic, arts). Results of this study provide new insight into the complex relations between activities and friendship that can inform theories of their developmental outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of friendship characteristics and problem behaviors among middle adolescents

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used with a 15-item adolescent self-report measure to identify 4 salient friendship characteristics--Reciprocity of Relations, Overt Hostility, Covert Hostility, and Self-Disclosure--with a sample of about 1,100 middle adolescents. Higher levels of Overt and Covert Hostility and lower levels of Reciprocity of Relations with one's closest friend were associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption, percentage of friends who drink, delinquent activity, depressive symptoms, and suicidal behaviors. Self-Disclosure was positively correlated with some adolescent problem behaviors, possibly reflecting developmental changes toward greater interpersonal involvement with friends in concert with age normative tasks such as increased alcohol use. Longitudinal, prospective analyses indicated that delinquent activity and depressive symptoms were significant lagged predictors of Overt and Covert Hostility, but that friendship characteristics were not significant lagged predictors of adolescent problem behaviors.     

The structure of adolescent peer networks.

Structural aspects of school-based peer networks of adolescents in 6th to 12th grade were mapped in 3 school systems. Female students were more connected to the peer network than were male students, and peer networks became more exclusive with increasing grade. The results also suggest that numeric minorities usually are less connected to school peer networks than the majority group. There was mixed evidence for hierarchical organization of the peer network. Best friends were highly embedded in friendship groups, but neither friendship group nor best friendship was highly embedded in social crowd. Adolescents name friends who are not in their friendship group and usually do not name everyone in the friendship group as a friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer relations among adolescents with female same-sex parents.

This study examined associations among family type (same-sex vs. opposite-sex parents), adolescent gender, family and relationship variables, and the peer relations of adolescents. Participants included 44 adolescents parented by same-sex female couples and 44 adolescents parented by opposite-sex couples, matched on demographic characteristics and drawn from a national sample. On both self-reported and peer-reported measures of relations with peers, adolescents were functioning well, and the quality of their peer relations was not associated with family type. Regardless of family type, adolescents whose parents described closer relationships with them reported higher quality peer relations and more friends in school and were rated as more central in their friendship networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent Girls' Interpersonal Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Examination of Reassurance-Seeking and Peer Relationships.

A transactional, interpersonal framework involving adolescents' reassurance-seeking and peer experiences may be useful for understanding the emergence of gender differences in depression prevalence during the adolescent transition. Sociometric nominations of peer acceptance/rejection and ratings of friendship quality provided by adolescents and their friends were used to measure peer experiences among 6th-8th-grade adolescents (N = 520) over 3 annual time points. After controlling for age and pubertal development, significant but small prospective effects offered mixed support for hypotheses: (a) depressive symptoms and negative peer relations predicted increasing levels of girls' reassurance-seeking; (b) initial levels of reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted deteriorating friendship quality among girls and low friendship stability, respectively; and (c) reassurance-seeking combined with poor peer experiences predicted increases in girls' depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Late results of surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm

Little is known concerning sexually experienced and inexperienced adolescent girls' perceptions of the prevalence of condom use and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Girls (n = 174; 41% sexually experienced) rated the prevalence of condom use among friends and STDs among male and female friends and adolescents in general. Girls perceive the prevalence of STDs similarly across both gender and level of familiarity. For the most part, however, the girls perceived the prevalence among boys and girls more similarly than among friends and adolescents in general. No significant differences were found between sexually experienced and inexperienced girls in perceptions of condom use prevalence, but girls with a history of STD perceived condoms as used less frequently. Girls with an STD history perceived STDs as the most prevalent, followed by sexually inexperienced girls and then sexually experienced girls without a history of an STD. After an adolescent girl initiates sexual intercourse, STD experience could be a key variable in affecting her perceptions. Prevention programs can incorporate an understanding of patients' perceptions of condom use and STDs.     

Parents' use of friendship facilitation strategies and the formation of friendships in early adolescence: A prospective study.

On the basis of semistructured discussions among 40 adolescents and their parents regarding family involvement in friendship formation, the authors identified 46 possible strategies parents could use to help adolescents establish new friendships after relocation to a new community. A total of 157 mother–adolescent pairs reported how often the parents used each strategy during the prior 3 mo. Principal-components analysis identified 4 groups of strategies: met other parents, enabled proximity to peers, talked to adolescent, and encouraged activity. Prospective analyses using 138 mother–adolescent pairs who completed 3 home interviews over an 8-mo period indicated that parents' more frequent use of strategies predicted adolescents' greater companionship and intimacy with new friends. Strategies that required active parental engagement in the adolescent's social world seemed particularly helpful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity in depressive symptoms in adolescents' friendship dyads: Selection or socialization?

This study examined friendship selection and socialization as mechanisms explaining similarity in depressive symptoms in adolescent same-gender best friend dyads. The sample consisted of 1,752 adolescents (51% male) ages 12–16 years (M = 13.77, SD = 0.73) forming 487 friend dyads and 389 nonfriend dyads (the nonfriend dyads served as a comparison group). To test our hypothesis, we applied a multigroup actor–partner interdependence model to 3 friendship types that started and ended at different time points during the 2 waves of data collection. Results showed that adolescents reported levels of depressive symptoms at follow-up that were similar to those of their best friends. Socialization processes explained the increase in similarity exclusively in female dyads, whereas no evidence for friendship selection emerged for either male or female dyads. Additional analyses revealed that similarity between friends was particularly evident in the actual best friend dyads (i.e., true best friends), in which evidence for socialization processes emerged for both female and male friend dyads. Findings highlight the importance of examining friendship relations as a potential context for the development of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Links between social network closure and child well-being: The organizing role of friendship context.

Third grade children (N = 404) and their mothers completed questionnaires and participated in interviews designed to identify children's friendships across multiple contexts, determine levels of social network closure for these friendships, and assess child well-being. Cluster analyses revealed distinct patterns in the contexts in which children's friendships were maintained. Closure was highest for children whose friendship clusters heavily represented relatives as friends and lowest when friends were from schools and the broader community. Intermediate levels of closure were observed for the clusters of neighborhood friends and friends from church and school. Both friendship cluster and, to some extent, ethnicity moderated associations between closure and indicators of well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of friendship development.

At 3-wk intervals during their 1st term at the university, 53 female and 31 male freshmen completed questionnaires regarding their relationships with 2 same-sex individuals whom they had just met. Results showed that dyads that successfully developed into close friendships by the end of the fall school term differed behaviorally and attitudinally from dyads that did not progress. As the friendships developed, the intimacy level of dyadic interaction accounted for an increasing percentage of the variance in ratings of friendship intensity beyond that accounted for by the sheer quantity of interaction. Ratings of relationship benefits were consistently positively correlated with friendship intensity and increased as the relationship progressed. There were no differences in ratings of relationship costs between close and nonclose friends. Dyadic behavior patterns and attitude ratings at the end of the fall school term were good predictors of friendship status 3 mo later. Motivational and situational factors were also correlated with friendship outcomes. Sex differences were noted: Females engaged in more casual affection behaviors with their close than with their nonclose friends. Males engaged in little casual affection with their friends, regardless of their degree of closeness. Results replicate the major findings of R. B. Hays (1984). (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective associations between friendship adjustment and social strategies: Friendship as a context for building social skills.

The proposal that friendships provide a context for the development of social skills is widely accepted. Yet little research exists to support this claim. In the present study, children and adolescents (N = 912) were presented with vignettes in which a friend encountered a social stressor and they could help the friend and vignettes in which they encountered a stressor and could seek help from the friend. Social strategies in response to these vignettes were assessed in the fall and spring of the school year. Different indicators of friendship adjustment had unique effects on youths' strategies in response to helping tasks. Whereas having more friends predicted decreases in avoidant or hostile strategies, having high-quality friendships predicted emotionally engaged strategies that involved talking about the problem. Moreover, whereas having more friends predicted increases in relatively disengaged strategies, like distraction and acting like the problem never happened, having high-quality friendships predicted decreases in these strategies. The present study also tested whether youths' strategies in the fall predicted changes in friendship adjustment by the spring. Only strategies which may be seen as major friendship transgressions (i.e., avoiding or blaming the friend when the friend encounters a problem) predicted changes in friendship over time. Collectively, these results provide important new information on the interplay between social competencies and friendship experiences and suggest that friendships may provide a critical venue for the development of important relationship skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling homophily over time with an actor-partner interdependence model.

Selection and socialization have been implicated in friendship homophily, but the relative contributions of each are difficult to measure simultaneously because of the nonindependent nature of the data. To address this problem, the authors applied a multiple-groups longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model (D. A. Kashy & D. A. Kenny, 2000) for distinguishable dyads to 3 consecutive years of intoxication frequency data from a large community-based sample of Swedish youth. Participants, ranging from 12 to 18 years old (M = 14.35, SD = 1.56) at the start of the study, included 902 adolescents (426 girls and 476 boys) with at least one reciprocated friend during at least one time point and 212 adolescents (84 girls and 128 boys) without reciprocated friends at any time. Similarity estimates indicated strong effects for selection and socialization in friends' intoxication frequency. Over time, younger members of these dyads had less stable patterns of intoxication than older members, largely because younger partners changed their drinking behavior to resemble that of older partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The peer relations of dropouts: a comparative study of at-risk and not at-risk youths

Little research has been devoted to exploring the relationship between high school disengagement and friendship network changes. In this study, the characteristics of friends, the environments of the friendship network and the nature of peer relations of students at-risk and not at-risk of dropping out of high school were compared. A questionnaire was given to 191 high school students (109 males, 82 females) from a middle class environment at the beginning and end of the school year. Results indicated that at-risk students had more dropout friends, more working friends, fewer school friends and fewer same-sex friends. Sex differences were discovered in several areas. Findings are discussed in relation to research and theories pertaining to dropouts and adolescent development.     

Peer relations and school adjustment in ungraded primary children.

Researchers have reported a significant relationship between peer relations and school adjustment in same-age classrooms, but little is known about the contribution of peer relations to school adjustment in mixed-age classrooms. The present study investigated the contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, social status, and age relative to mixed-age classmates to children's attitudes toward school and to achievement in ungraded primary. Children's attitudes toward school were positively related to composite achievement scores. Achievement was predicted from demographic variables, children's attitudes, peer acceptance, and friendship status. With the effects of gender and race controlled, differences in school adjustment were related to both children's social status and whether they had friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do birds of a feather flock together? The variable bases for African American, Asian American, and European American adolescents' selection of similar friends.

Variability in adolescent-friend similarity is documented in a diverse sample of African American, Asian American, and European American adolescents. Similarity was greatest for substance use, modest for academic orientations, and low for ethnic identity. Compared with Asian American and European American adolescents, African American adolescents chose friends who were less similar with respect to academic orientation or substance use but more similar with respect to ethnic identity. For all three ethnic groups, personal endorsement of the dimension in question and selection of cross-ethnic-group friends heightened similarity. Similarity was a relative rather than an absolute selection criterion: Adolescents did not choose friends with identical orientations. These findings call for a comprehensive theory of friendship selection sensitive to diversity in adolescents' experiences. Implications for peer influence and self-development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The company they keep: Relation of adolescents' adjustment and behavior to their friends' perceptions of authoritative parenting in the social network.

Approximately 4,500 14- to 18-year-olds completed questionnaires concerning their parents' practices and their academic achievement, psychosocial competence, behavior problems, and internalized distress. Independent reports from participants' friends were used to measure authoritativeness in the peer network. Parental authoritativeness in the network benefits adolescents above and beyond the positive impact of parental authoritativeness at home. Network authoritativeness was associated with lower levels of delinquency and substance use among all participants, lower levels of school misconduct and peer conformity for boys, and greater psychosocial competence and lower levels of psychological distress among girls. The beneficial impact of network authoritativeness on adolescent behavior is (a) mediated mainly through its effect on adolescents' peers and (b) greatest among adolescents who perceive their own parents to be relatively more authoritative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendships in Middle School: Influences on Motivation and School Adjustment.

In this 2-year longitudinal study (n=242), the authors examined relations of having a reciprocated friend and characteristics of a reciprocated friend to students' social and academic adjustment to middle school. With respect to having a friend, 6th-grade students without friends showed lower levels of prosocial behavior, academic achievement, and emotional distress than did students with reciprocated friendships. Not having a friend in 6th grade also was related to emotional distress 2 years later. Evidence that motivational processes mediate relations between friends' and individuals' prosocial behavior was obtained. For students with reciprocated friendships (n=173). friends' prosocial behavior predicted change in individuals' prosocial behavior in 8th grade by way of changes in goals to behave prosocially. Implications for studying friendship influence in middle school are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homophily of internalized distress in adolescent peer groups.

Examined various homophilic mechanisms by which adolescents affect, and are affected by, levels of internalized distress within their immediate peer groups. The sample included approximately 6,000 14- to 18-yr-olds who were assessed twice over a 1-yr period. Results showed that adolescents tend to associate with peers who report similar levels of internalized distress and that internalizers are no less successful than others at establishing friendships. Moreover, homophily of internalizing symptoms develops from 3 distinct sources: (1) Adolescents tend to choose friends who possess similar levels of internalized distress (selection effect); (2) in male, but not female, peer groups, individual distress levels grow increasingly similar to peer levels over time (socialization effect); and (3) peer group distress levels vary according to the distress of individual members (contagion effect). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)