Friendship Selection Research Articles

The Dominance of Liking: Uncovering Dyadic and Reputational Effects of Peer and Perceived Teacher Likes and Dislikes on Friendship Dynamics Among Chinese Adolescents.

While previous research suggests that peer and teacher preferences are linked to adolescents' peer relationships, the specific impact of peer and teacher (dis)liking on adolescents' friendship networks is not fully understood. This study used longitudinal social network analysis to examine how peer (dis)liking and perceptions of teacher (dis)liking predicted friendship selection among Chinese adolescents. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 2566 students (48.3% boys, Mage = 13.94, SDage = 0.60 at Time 1) in central China in 2015 and 2016. Results for peer (dis)liking revealed that Chinese students tended to befriend peers they liked (dyadic perception), to befriend peers widely liked (reputational perception), and to avoid peers widely disliked (reputational perception). Regarding teacher (dis)liking, Chinese students tended to befriend peers they believed their teachers liked (dyadic perception) and avoid those widely perceived as liked by teachers (reputational perception). Interestingly, students who were widely perceived as liked by teachers tended to befriend peers whom they believed teachers disliked. Perceived teacher disliking had a limited effect on friendship selection at both the dyadic and reputational levels. These findings suggest that peer liking and perceived teacher liking relate to friendship formation among Chinese adolescents, but that a reputation as a teachers' pet may hinder their friendships.

Young children's choices and thoughts about pro-social behaviour towards others with overweight.

This study aimed to investigate weight bias within young children's pro-social choices between characters who differed in body size. Seventy-six children aged 4-6 years read stories asking them to choose who they would first help, share with, comfort, and steal from, between a healthy weight and child with overweight. They also selected the one character they would most like to play with. Children's reasoning for these choices was recorded and analysed. The character with overweight was helped first in only a third of the choices made. Children chose the characters with overweight more often as the target for anti-social action. In friendship selections, children overwhelmingly rejected the characters with overweight. However, weight bias was not prominent in the reasons children gave for the choices. Most children were not negative about body shape, weight or appearance. Similarly, in friendship choices, these were mostly expressed positively to the character chosen. Only a small minority of children were explicitly negative about the character with overweight. A better understanding of weight bias acquisition and variation between children will benefit those working in health care and educational settings. Future research should link with developmental theory, such as on social categorization and theory of mind.

Parents on the Sidelines: The Role of Parental Directing in Chinese Adolescents’ Friendship Dynamics Related to Academic Achievement, Aggression, and Prosocial Behavior

Adolescents’ peer interactions strongly influence their school behavior, raising the question of whether parents can still direct adolescents’ friendship choices or whether they are mostly on the sidelines. Chinese cultural values emphasize the importance of having “good” friends, raising questions about adolescents’ adherence to parental direction of friendships. This study examined friendship dynamics among seventh and eighth graders in central China ( n = 1,454, 46.7% girls), focusing on achievement, aggression, and prosocial behavior. Social network analysis revealed that Chinese students tended to select friends who were more similar to them in achievement, aggression, and prosocial behavior. Interestingly, they avoided aggressive peers but were attracted to high-achieving and prosocial peers. Despite parental emphasis on friendship quality, the study found no parental direction in adolescent friendship selection. These findings underscore the central role of peer characteristics in friendship dynamics, while highlighting the limited impact of parental directing on Chinese adolescents’ friendship selection.

Micro-Macro Mediation Analysis in Social Networks

Mediation analysis is increasingly used in the social sciences. Extension to social network data, however, has proved difficult because statistical network models are formulated at a lower level of analysis (the dyad) than many outcomes of interest. This study introduces a general approach for micro-macro mediation analysis in social networks. The author defines the average mediated micro effect (AMME) as the indirect effect of a network selection process on an individual, group, or organizational outcome through its effect on an intervening network variable. The author shows that the AMME can be nonparametrically identified using a wide range of common statistical network and regression modeling strategies under the assumption of conditional independence among multiple mediators. Nonparametric and parametric algorithms are introduced to generically estimate the AMME in a multitude of research designs. The author illustrates the utility of the method with an applied example using cross-sectional National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data to examine the friendship selection mechanisms that indirectly shape adolescent school performance through their effect on network structure.

The Role of Socialization Institutions in Combating Drug

This study aimed to identify the role of socialization institutions in combating drug abuse from the perspective of the students at Emirati universities. The researcher applied a questionnaire to the students selected from several universities in the United Arab Emirates (Al Ain University, Sharjah University, Emirates University), where the study sample consisted of (484) male and female students from different specialties. The results showed that unemployment, bad friends, and the lack of religious values resulted in drug abuse. The results revealed that the university's support of the role of media, in addition to family's control over their children's selection of friends and promoting religious morals will, certainly, contribute to reducing drug abuse among the youth. Based on the results, the study recommended the necessity of enhancing the university's cooperative role with the media to implement common educational campaigns about the risks of drug abuse and addiction, as universities can provide accurate professional information to the media. Additionally, the university's role can be activated by enhancing scientific research about the various aspects related to drugs.

A Trust-Aware and Authentication-Based Collaborative Method for Resource Management of Cloud-Edge Computing in Social Internet of Things

The Social Internet of Things (S-IoT) paradigm is focused on topic of the Internet of Things (IoT), which accelerates the object issues by working with the concept of social networks. Searching and finding a new object in the community are considered to manage the number of friends and complex relationships between them and affect the ability to navigate at the cloud-edge layer, and resources, such as battery lifetime of S-IoT devices and energy resources, are important challenges in this field. In the processing of social messages of remote devices, increasing the battery life of devices that require such requirements plays the most important role. In this research, a collaboration scenario is presented to consider object attributes, friend’s functions and intelligent friend selection among objects for group messaging. First, a general reference model is designed and presented to select a friend to access group message remote processing services and minimize cloud-edge resources. The simulation results show that, for the correct communication of friends at the edge of the network and in each service discovery, according to the length of the path in the network, it is possible to establish stable communication and make better service with the least possible. The results show that if we want to develop a method for friendship between objects in communication in cloud computing, the proposed method can greatly improve the effectiveness of providing reliable message processing types.

Peer Relationships and Chinese Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: Selection and Influence

This study applied Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis to disentangle friendship selection and influence regarding the academic achievement of Chinese adolescents in a 3-year longitudinal study of 880 middle school students (400 girls, Year 1 mean age = 13.33) and 525 high school students (284 girls, mean age = 16.45). Both peer selection and influence effects were obtained. Chinese adolescents preferred friendships with similarly achieving or higher achieving peers but avoided friendships with lower achieving peers. They increased achievement when they befriended high-achieving peers but decreased achievement when they befriended low-achieving peers. Influence but not selection was stronger for middle school students than for high school students. The results may be a function of the importance of academic success for Chinese students.

Labeling effects of initial juvenile justice system processing decision on youth interpersonal ties*

AbstractThe juvenile justice system can process youth in myriad ways. Youth who are formally processed, relative to being informally processed, may experience more public and harsh sanctions that label youth more negatively as “deviant.” Drawing on labeling theory, the current study evaluates the relative effect of formal justice system processing on the interpersonal dynamics of youth peer networks. Using data from the Crossroads Study, a multisite longitudinal sample of first‐time adolescent offenders, the current study applies augmented inverse probability weighting and generalized mixed‐effects models to estimate the effects of formal processing on friendship selection processes of homophily and withdrawal and considers whether these effects vary by race and ethnicity. Consistent with expectations of homophily, formally processed youth acquire more new deviant peers and fewer nondeviant peers during the 3 years after their initial processing decision compared with informally processed youth. The findings suggest no differences exist across processing types in withdrawal from friends. These effects were consistent across racial and ethnic groups. Ultimately, this study explores the dynamic interpersonal mechanisms associated with labeling theory and offers additional insight into the negative effects of formal processing.

S2NetM: A Semantic Social Network of Things Middleware for Developing Smart and Collaborative IoT-Based Solutions

The Social Internet of Things (SIoT) paradigm combines the benefits of social networks with IoT networks to create more collaborative and efficient systems, offering enhanced scalability, better navigability, flexibility, and dynamic decision making. However, SIoT also presents challenges related to dynamic friendship selection, privacy and security, interoperability, and standardization. To fully unlock the potential of SIoT, it is crucial to establish semantic interoperability between the various entities, applications, and networks that comprise the system. This paper introduces the Semantic Social Network of Things Middleware (S2NetM), which leverages social relationships to enhance semantic interoperability in SIoT systems. The S2NetM employs semantic reasoning and alignment techniques to facilitate the creation of dynamic, context-aware social networks of things that can collaboratively work together and enable new opportunities for IoT-based solutions. The main contributions of this paper are the specification of the S2NetM and the associated ontology, as well as the discussion of a case study demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Limited opportunities: Adolescents’ access to social capital in secondary schools in three European countries

While previous research indicates that students benefit from their peers’ resources, little is known about access to social capital in the school context. Therefore, this study examines differential access to social capital – measured by friends’ socioeconomic status (SES), the number of books they have at home, and their reading habits – in secondary schools in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Relying on a large-scale dataset, I investigate the association between socioeconomic status, minority status, and social capital using complete friendship network information. I argue that social capital access is connected to a two-stage process consisting of school sorting and friendship selection. To differentiate between these two processes, I apply within-between random effects (REWB). The models show that friendship selection is much less relevant for access to social capital than school sorting. Results indicate that while high-SES students have better access to social capital across dimensions, access patterns for minority students are more nuanced.

School Transitions, Peer Processes, and Delinquency: A Social Network Approach to Turning Points in Adolescence

Objectives: We examine how normative school transitions (e.g., moves from elementary to middle school) shape adolescents’ experiences with three network processes that inform delinquency: delinquent popularity, delinquent sociability, and friend selection on shared delinquency participation. Methods: By applying stochastic actor-oriented models to a sample of panel data on 13,752 students from 26 school districts in the PROSPER study, we compare outcomes for students who change schools between 6th and 7th grade to those who remain in the same building. Results: We find that adolescents who transition schools between these grades have significantly different experiences with delinquency-related network processes when compared to their peers who do not make this change. For instance, in schools that merge students from multiple elementary schools to a single middle school, delinquent youth experience a reduction in their popularity and sociability following the school transition. These declines do not characterize the social experiences of delinquent adolescents who do not change schools during this period. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that school districts can organize transition patterns to provide youth a chance to sever harmful connections, start anew, and reduce their participation in delinquency.

Peer network in math anxiety: A longitudinal social network approach

Regardless of age, math anxiety (i.e., adverse affective reactions in situations involving math) is associated with lower math achievement. Previous studies have investigated the role of adult figures (e.g., parents, teachers) in the development of children’s math anxiety. However, given the importance of peer relationships during adolescence, we examined friendship selection and social influence on children’s math anxiety using longitudinal peer network analyses. Throughout the academic semester, we found that children became more similar to their peers in math anxiety levels but did not form new peer networks based on their levels of math anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of peers’ emotional reactions to math, which could influence future academic achievement and career aspirations considerably.

Racial Discrimination Experiences and Friendship Network Dynamics Among Black and Latinx Youth

Despite a robust volume of evidence documenting adverse effects of racial discrimination experiences on adolescent adjustment outcomes, relatively little is known about the relational consequences of racial discrimination experiences for adolescent friendship networks. To address this gap, this study examines how racial discrimination experiences shape and are shaped by friendship network dynamics in early and middle adolescence. The current study's goals were to explicate whether relational consequences of racial discrimination experiences for friendship network selection differed between interracial and intraracial friendships among Black and Latinx youth, and how these adolescents were influenced by their friends' racial discrimination experiences. Longitudinal social network analysis was used among a sample of predominantly Latinx and Black middle school students from the southwestern U.S. (n = 1034; 50.1% boys, Mage = 12.1, 13.8% White, 18.6% Black, 53.1% Latinx, 14.4% Other race and multiracial). The results showed that Black and Latinx youth preferred intraracial friends. Above and beyond that, Black youth were more likely to have intraracial friendships when the focal individual reported lower levels of general racial discrimination experiences and higher levels of adult-perpetrated racial discrimination experiences. Black and Latinx adolescents reported increases in general racial discrimination experiences over time, as a function of their friends reporting higher levels of racial discrimination (e.g., peer influence). These findings advance developmental research by showing that racial discrimination experiences are consequential for friendship network dynamics by increasing the likelihood of intraracial friend selection among Black youth and through peer influence processes.

A sociometric approach to understanding characteristics of same- and other-gender friendships in young children

The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which child gender and language skill matching is associated with kindergarten students’ friendship selection. The study sample includes data from 987 friendship ties formed among 416 children from 21 kindergarten classrooms in four elementary schools in a large district, and we used hierarchical latent space models to estimate the relations between language match and friendship formation. Results indicate that friendship ties were balanced in terms of language matching, the most common pairing was same gender, same language status, and the least common pairing was same gender, differing language status. Similarity of language skill was a positive predictor of both same-gender and other-gender friendship ties. We discuss the implications and limitations of this study and propose future directions for research.

What did the digital age mean for privacy in the United States?

Over the course of the last 3 decades, the world has seen monumental shifts in how information is collected, transmitted, and disseminated. Every aspect of our personalities that live on the internet, including our browser history, photos we post to social media, our shopping decisions and our selection of online friends, has been collated, quantified, and assimilated into a digital profile, which has skyrocketing value to an increasing number of businesses. With these developments in technology come the inevitable questions of ownership of such data, its use, misuse and even possible theft. This paper takes a comprehensive and comparative look at the data privacy legislature in the two largest data hubs in the world, namely the United States and the European Union. The paper also seeks to address the shortcomings of certain, past legislative decisions, and makes a recommendation for the future. To do this, we analyze the events of the past, using the 2016 Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal as a focal point. On analyzing the major differences between American privacy law and the preeminent document on data privacy at the time, namely the Global Data Privacy Regulations (GDPR), we conclude that data privacy in the United States is in its nascent stages, in dire need of an overhaul. The California Consumer Privacy Act is the legislature that comes close to mimicking the function of the GDPR, albeit at a much smaller scale. The other remedies include the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), which is already under consideration by Congress, or a state-by-state approach.

Dynamic weight status changes and peer lifestyles in early adolescence: A social network analysis on a longitudinal cohort of Taiwanese youth

BackgroundFriendship networks are relevant to adolescent weight status and lifestyle, but little is known about their relationship in an East Asian setting. Using a longitudinal cohort of Taiwanese adolescents, we studied how weight status and lifestyles might influence friendship. Simultaneously considering the influence of friendship networks, we further examined the effects of peers’ lifestyles on the body weight status of adolescents. MethodsData were retrieved from the first three waves of the Taiwan Youth Project (N = 2409; 51 % boys). Participants were asked to nominate their friends at school and to report their lifestyle factors (e.g. sleep habits, internet use, and athletic performance). Weight status was proxied by body mass index calculated from self-reported weight and height. Stochastic actor-based modeling was used for the friendship network analyses. ResultsConsidering network structure, adolescents selected friends based on similarities in weight status (β = 0.147 [standard error = 0.044], p < 0.001) and lifestyle factors, such as athletic performance (β = 0.181 [0.034], p < 0.001), internet use (β = 0.156 [0.039], p < 0.001), and social jetlag (β = 0.055 [ ± 0.022], p < 0.05). In the behavior dynamics model, we did not observe any peer influence on changes in adolescents’ weight status. ConclusionThese findings suggest a pervasive homophilic friendship selection explained by weight and lifestyle-based similarities, despite no evidence of peer influence on weight status. Stakeholders and care providers of adolescent health should be aware of the social network processes that underlie weight problems.

The effects of the digital age on privacy in the United States

Over the course of the last 3 decades, the world has seen monumental shifts in how information is collected, transmitted, and disseminated. Every aspect of our personalities that live on the internet, including our browser history, photos we post to social media, our shopping decisions, and our selection of online friends, has been collated, quantified, and assimilated into a digital profile, which has skyrocketing value to an increasing number of businesses. With these developments in technology come the inevitable questions of ownership of such data, its use, misuse, and even possible theft. This paper takes a comprehensive and comparative look at the data privacy legislature in the two largest data hubs in the world, namely the United States and the European Union. The paper also seeks to address the shortcomings of certain, past legislative decisions, and makes a recommendation for the future. To do this, we analyze the events of the past, using the 2016 Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal as a focal point.

Examining food intake similarities in adolescent best friend dyads using longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models

Little is known about how adolescent best friends may affect each other's food intake. This study explored whether friendship selection and socialization mechanisms explained potential food intake similarities in adolescent reciprocated best friend dyads. We also tested whether socialization processes were moderated by dyad member's relative zBMI. Members of 145 same-gender best friendship dyads (56% female; Mage = 12.79; SDage = 0.61) reported on their intake of food obtained from home and from outside the home at the beginning and the end of the school year through food frequency questionnaires. Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models results showed no indication of selection or socialization, and very limited evidence for the moderation of socialization processes by relative zBMI. These findings indicate that focusing on adolescent reciprocated best friends in dietary interventions may not be valuable.

Sex Differences Partially Moderate the Relationships Between Personal Values and the Preference for Cross-Sex Friendships (Heterosociality)

Abstract. A key differentiation in studies on friendship research is between the same-sex and cross-sex friendships of women and men. Although most women and men prefer same-sex over cross-sex friends, most people do commonly have cross-sex friendships, and there are large interindividual differences in the proportions of cross-sex friends in individual friendship networks. Recent studies have suggested that same-sex and cross-sex friendships fulfill different goals for women and men. Therefore, individuals’ personal values (as representations of their enduring goals) may be associated with the types of friendships they prefer. The present study explores associations between personal values and people’s preferences for cross-sex friendships (heterosociality). A sample of 1,333 participants completed the assessment. Results showed that the associations were partially moderated by sex. For men, the value of tradition, whereas for women, the values of security, self-direction, and tradition were found to be significantly associated with the individual proportions of cross-sex friends. These findings contribute to understanding friendship selection and underline the importance of differentiating between same-sex and cross-sex friendships in women and men.

Friendship selection and influence processes for popularity in early and mid-adolescents.

This study examined the effect of popularity levels on friendship selection and friends' influence on popularity levels in early and mid-adolescence. Participants were 4205 Spanish adolescents (Mage = 13.1 years at Wave 1; 48% girls) belonging to 160 classrooms in two waves. Adolescents were asked about their friendships and the popularity of their classmates. Longitudinal social network analyses showed that adolescents preferred similarly popular peers as friends. High popular classmates were more attractive as friends, particularly in early adolescence. Popular adolescents were more selective in their friendship nominations and adolescents with popular friends became more popular over time. These two effects were only significant in mid-adolescents, although comparative analyses showed a similar tendency at both age groups. This study highlights the importance of popularity levels in adolescents' friendship selection and suggests that popularity, at the individual and group level, plays a relevant role in social development. Implications adapted to the different selection and influence processes in early and mid-adolescence are discussed.