JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. This study examines whether structural properties of friendship networks condition the association between friends' delinquency and an individual's own delinquent behavior. Data from the Add Health allows a more accurate conceptualization of the peer network and a more rigorous measurement of peer delinquency than previous research. Findings from this study indicate that friends' delinquency is associated with an adolescent's own delinquency involvement. However, characteristics of adolescents' friendship networks, such as its density and adolescents' centrality and popularity, condition the delinquency-peer association. Network density, in particular, emerges as an important component of the delinquency-peer association, with very cohesive networks containing stronger delinquency-peer associations than those that are less cohesive. These findings suggest that it is necessary to consider the underlying structural properties of friendship networks in order to understand the impact of peer influence on adolescent delinquency.

This paper examines the contribution of peer relations to delinquency from the perspective of two sociological traditions: socialization/normative influence and opportunity. Earlier studies have likely overestimated normative influence by relying on respondents' reports about their friends' behaviors rather than obtaining independent assessments and by inadequately controlling for the tendency to select peers who are similar to oneself. Using detailed social network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find support for both the socialization and opportunity models. Adolescents engage in higher rates of delinquency if they have highly delinquent friends and if they spend a great deal of time in unstructured socializing with friends. Yet our results also indicate that (1) the normative influence of peers on delinquency is more limited than indicated by most previous studies, (2) normative influence is not increased by being more closely attached to friends or spending more time with them, (3) the contribution of opportunity is independent from normative influence and of comparable importance, and (4) influences from the peer domain do not mediate the influences of age, gender, family or school.

Purpose-Although bullying is recognized as a serious problem in the U.S., little is known about racial/ethnic differences in bullying risk. This study examined associations between bullying and family, peer, and school relations for White, Black and Hispanic adolescents.Methods-A nationally-representative sample (n=11,033) of adolescents in grades six to ten participated in the 2001 Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children survey, self-reporting bullying involvement and information on family, peer and school relations. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses controlling for gender, age and affluence were stratified by race/ethnicity.Results-Nine percent of respondents were victims of bullying, 9% were bullies, and 3% were bully-victims. Black adolescents reported a significantly lower prevalence of victimization than White and Hispanic students. Multivariate results indicated modest racial/ethnic variation in associations between bullying and family, peer and school factors. Parental communication, social isolation, and classmate relationships were similarly related to bullying across racial/ethnic groups. Living with two biological parents was protective against bullying involvement for White students only. Further, although school satisfaction and performance were negatively associated with bullying involvement for White and Hispanic students, school factors were largely unrelated to bullying among Black students.Conclusions-Although school attachment and performance were inconsistently related to bullying behavior across race/ethnicity, bullying behaviors are consistently related to peer relationships across Black, White and Hispanic adolescents. Negative associations between family communication and bullying behaviors for White, Black and Hispanic adolescents suggest the importance of addressing family interactions in future bullying prevention efforts.

Social influences can promote or discourage adolescent substance use. The authors surveyed 4,263 sixth-to eighth-grade students to assess the effect of peer and parent influences on adolescent substance use. The authors conducted separate multiple logistic regression analyses for smoking and drinking, controlling for grade, sex, and race. Positive independent associations with smoking and drinking were found for direct peer pressure and associating with problem-behaving friends. Independent negative associations with smoking and drinking were also found for parent involvement, parent expectations, and parent regard. In an analysis of interactions, peer pressure was positively associated with drinking for girls but not for boys and problem-behaving friends was positively associated with drinking for both boys and girls. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that associating with deviant peers promotes and that authoritative parenting protects against smoking and drinking.Experimentation with smoking and drinking increases dramatically during adolescence. Nationally, less than 10% of 6th graders report smoking or drinking in the past 30 days.1 However, 19.1% of 8th graders and 33.5% of 12th graders report smoking and 24.6% of 8th graders and 51.3% of 12th graders report drinking in the past 30 days.1 Early experimentation with these substances is associated with both immediate and lasting problems, including abuse and dependence, which can result in profound, long-term health and social consequences.2-4 Therefore, a number of national health objectives address the prevention of adolescent smoking and drinking.

Purpose This research identified conceptually cohesive latent classes of youth dating violence (DV) and examined associations between covariates and classes by gender. Methods A nationally representative sample of 2,203 tenth-grade students completed assessments of physical and verbal DV victimization and perpetration, depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use. A Factor Mixture Model was used to identify patterns of DV. Gender differences among classes were examined for depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use. Results Prevalence of DV victimization was 35% and perpetration was 31%. A three-class model fit adequately and provided conceptual cohesion: Class 1) non-involved (65%); Class 2) victims/perpetrators of verbal DV (30%); and Class 3) victims/perpetrators of verbal and physical DV (5%). Compared to Class 1 adolescents, those in Classes 2 and 3 were more likely to report depressive symptoms, psychological complaints, and alcohol use. Females in Classes 2 and 3 were also more likely to report physical complaints, cigarette use, and marijuana use. Among females involved in DV, those in Class 3 compared to Class 2 reported more depressive symptoms, physical and psychological complaints, and cigarette and marijuana use. Conclusions The three-class model distinguished involvement in verbal acts from involvement in verbal and physical acts. Adolescents involved in DV had similar probabilities of reporting perpetration and victimization suggesting violence within relationships may be mutual. Involvement in DV was associated with more health issues and concurrent problem behaviors. For females in particular, the increased involvement in DV was associated with other health indicators.