Pressure to drink but not to smoke: Disentangling selection and socialization in adolescent peer networks and peer groups

Contains fulltext : 90699.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)This paper examined the relative influence of selection and socialization on alcohol and tobacco use in adolescent peer networks and peer groups. The sample included 1419 Finnish secondary education students (690 males and 729 females, mean age 16 years at the outset) from nine schools. Participants identified three school friends and described their alcohol and tobacco use on two occasions one year apart. Actor-based models simultaneously examined changes in peer network ties and changes in individual behaviors for all participants within each school. Multi-level analyses examined changes in individual behaviors for adolescents entering new peer groups and adolescents in stable peer groups, both of which were embedded within the school-based peer networks. Similar results emerged from both analytic methods: Selection and socialization contributed to similarity of alcohol use, but only selection was a factor in tobacco use. (C) 2010 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

Is depression contagious? A test of alternative peer socialization mechanisms of depressive symptoms in adolescent peer networks

Item does not contain fulltextPurpose: This study examined the role of two different types of peer socialization (convergence, contagion) in adolescents' depression, adjusting for the effects of peer selection and deselection. Methods: The sample used in this study comprised 949 Finnish adolescents (56% females; mean age: 16 years at the outset) attending classrooms in eight secondary schools. Participants identified three school peers and reported depressive symptoms twice, 1 year apart. Sociometric and behavioral data were analyzed using dynamic social network analysis. Results: Adolescents initiated relationships with peers who reported similar levels of depression before initiation of the relationship, and dissolved relationships with peers who became dissimilar in depression from time 1 (T1) to time 2 (T2). The average score of peers' depressive symptoms at T1 predicted changes in adolescent depression at T2 (convergence), but adolescents with peers who reported relatively higher initial levels of depression did not report an increase in depression (contagion). Conclusions: Over time, adolescents' depressive symptoms increasingly converged toward the average levels of their peers, but this convergence was not primarily because of contagion effects. The findings suggest that socialization processes can lead to both increases and decreases in adolescent depression, depending on peers' average level of depression.6 p

Peer selection and influence on children's reading skills in early primary grades: A social network approach

Item does not contain fulltextThis longitudinal study from Grades 1 to 4 investigated (a) the extent to which children select peers based on similarity in reading skills and (b) the extent to which children are influenced by the level of their peers' reading skills. The sample consisted of 1003 Finnish children in Grades 1-4, for whom reading fluency and comprehension were assessed. The same children were interviewed about their self-concept of reading ability at the end of kindergarten. The results of social network analysis showed that children had a tendency to choose new friends based on earlier similarity in reading fluency but not in reading comprehension. Furthermore, children became more similar to their friends in reading fluency and reading comprehension. Children with a high self-concept of reading ability and high reading fluency were particularly likely to be positively influenced by peers with high reading fluency.28 p