Abstract
ObjectivesTo analyze short-term changes in peer affiliations, offending behavior and routine activities in order to evaluate three different processes: peer selection, peer socialization and situational peer influences.MethodsThe short-term longitudinal TEENS study was conducted among a cohort of students from one mid-sized high school in Kentucky, as part of the larger Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project. The study sample consists of one complete network of 155 ninth graders who completed surveys about their peer affiliations, routine activities and offending behaviors over the course of five waves of data collection during the beginning of the school year. The measurement intervals were no more than 2 weeks long. Longitudinal network analysis (SIENA software that enables actor-oriented stochastic modeling) was used to estimate peer selection, socialization, and situational effects.ResultsPeer networks, offending, and routine activities appeared to be very volatile over the research period. Peer selection effects were found for structural network properties, demographics and delinquent values, but not for peer delinquency. We did not find significant peer socialization effects within the research period, but instead found that changes in offending were related to situational changes in unstructured socializing, alcohol use and marijuana use.ConclusionsThe results suggest that traditional time lags of one year or six months between measurements may fail to capture short-term relations between peers and behavior. Long-term peer influence processes like socialization may be less important in the short run, while situational peer effects might be more salient.
Highlights
Adolescence is a dynamic period, in which individuals mature physically, psychologically, and socially (e.g., Coleman and Hendry 1999; Steinberg 1996)
The results suggest that traditional time lags of one year or six months between measurements may fail to capture short-term relations between peers and behavior
Long-term peer influence processes like socialization may be less important in the short run, while situational peer effects might be more salient
Summary
Adolescence is a dynamic period, in which individuals mature physically, psychologically, and socially (e.g., Coleman and Hendry 1999; Steinberg 1996). It is a period in which the salience of peer influence increases and the time that is spent with peers peaks (Berndt 1979; Warr 1993; Csikszentmihalyi and Larson 1984), and it is a period in which involvement in delinquent behavior increases and peaks as well (Farrington 1986; Hirschi and Gottfredson 1983; Sweeten et al 2013). The dynamic nature of adolescence reveals itself in the relative instability of peer relations. Data from research employing life history calendars suggest that periods of high delinquent activity can be alternated with periods of low or no activity (Horney et al 1995; Slocum et al 2005; Uggen and Thompson 2003)
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