Friends' Use and Adult Drug and Drinking Behavior: A Further Test of Differential Association Theory

Abstract

Past research on drug behavior, especially at testing peer group influences, has tended to concentrate on high school and college populations. purpose of this study is to find out the extent to which the theoretical and empirical findings are applicable to an adult population. This Note reports the findings of an analysis of self-reported drug use data representing a general Texas adult population. Zero-order correlation results provide strong support for extending the usefulness of differential association theory to the explanation of drug use within an adult population. most influential theory of cultural deviance is Edwin Sutherland's theory of differential association.' third postulate of this theory states: The principal part of the learning of [deviant] behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.2 This study attempts to measure one's intimate personal groups in response to this postulate. Within intimate personal groups, value development and behavior learning, both deviant and nondeviant, take place. basic principle of differential association theory is that a person becomes deviant because of an excess of learned definitions favorable to the violation of norms.