Abstract
This social network study investigated the moderating role of self-control in the association between friendship and the development of externalizing behavior: Antisocial behavior, alcohol use, tobacco use. Previous studies have shown inconsistent findings, and did not control for possible friendship network or selection effects. We tested two complementary hypotheses: (1) That early-adolescents with low self-control develop externalizing behavior regardless of their friends’ behavior, or (2) as a result of being influenced by their friends’ externalizing behavior to a greater extent. Hypotheses were investigated using data from the SNARE (Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence) study (N = 1144, 50 % boys, Mage 12.7, SD = 0.47). We controlled for selection effects and the network structure, using a data-analysis package called SIENA. The main findings indicate that personal low self-control and friends’ externalizing behaviors both predict early adolescents’ increasing externalizing behaviors, but they do so independently. Therefore, interventions should focus on all early adolescents’ with a lower self-control, rather than focus on those adolescents with a lower self-control who also have friends who engage in externalizing behavior.
Highlights
Adolescents’ development of externalizing behaviors is influenced by their friends’ externalizing behavior
Previous studies focused on delinquency, we investigated a composite of multiple externalizing behaviors
There were some small differences in gender distribution, alcohol use, tobacco use, overall
Summary
Adolescents’ development of externalizing behaviors is influenced by their friends’ externalizing behavior (see Veenstra et al 2013). Several studies have investigated a potential moderating effect of self-control on the tendency to adapt friends’ externalizing behavior, focusing primarily on the outcome of delinquency. These studies have provided inconsistent findings: Past research has suggested that higher self-control might be associated with a lower likelihood to adapt behavior based on delinquent peers (Gardner et al 2008; Wright et al 2001), that self-control might not moderate this association (McGloin and O’Neill Shermer 2009), or that high self-control might even be associated with a higher likelihood to adapt such behaviors (Meldrum et al 2009).
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