Delinquent Peers in Context: A Longitudinal Network Analysis of Selection and Influence Effects*

Abstract

In this article, longitudinal social network data are analyzed to get a better understanding of the interplay between delinquent peers and delinquent behavior. These data contain detailed information about the social networks of secondary school students from the same grade, their delinquent behavior, and many relevant correlates of network formation and delinquency. To distinguish selection and influence processes, a method (Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses, SIENA) is used in which network formation and changes in delinquency are simulated simultaneously within the context of other network processes and correlates of delinquency. The data and the method used make it possible to investigate an unusually wide array of effects on peer selection and delinquent behavior. The results indicate that similarity in delinquency has no significant effect on the selection of school friends when other network dynamics are taken into account. However, the average delinquency level of someone's friends in the school network does have a significant, although relatively small, effect on delinquent behavior of the respondents, beyond significant effects of changes in the level of self‐control and morality. Another peer‐related change, leaving or joining informal street‐oriented youth groups, also appears to have a substantial effect on changes in delinquency.

Associações entre Bullying Escolar e Conduta Infracional: Revisão Sistemática de Estudos Longitudinais

“…Uma explicação possível para a persistência de comportamentos divergentes ao longo do tempo, ainda que esses sofram alterações na forma de expressão, na linha do proposto por Olweus (2013), refere-se a um provável padrão de personalidade, que predispõe os agressores à manifestação de desajustes psicossociais variados, dentre os quais se inclui o bullying e a conduta contrária à lei. Outra possível explicação, de natureza mais social, refere-se à possibilidade de rejeição dos agressores pelos pares com conduta convencional, o que aumenta a probabilidade de eles se associarem a outros jovens com histórico similar, o que favorece a continuidade das agressões por influência mútua (Weerman, 2011).…”

Accounting for Projection Bias in Models of Delinquent Peer Influence: The Utility and Limits of Latent Variable Approaches

“…Specifically, the false consensus effect may artificially inflate the similarity that an individual perceives between his/her behavior and that of his/her associates. Thus, while studies using direct peer reports continue to yield equivocal evidence concerning whether socialization or selection better accounts for the correlation between personal and peer behavior (e.g., Kandel, 1978;Knecht et al, 2010, Weerman, 2011, they have simultaneously led some to conclude that "estimates of influence [i.e., socialization] are grossly overstated in analyses relying upon respondents' perceptions of their friends' behavior" (Aseltine, 1995:103; see also Haynie, 2001;Kandel, 1996;Meldrum et al, 2009;Weerman and Smeenk, 2005).…”

Deviant behavior variety scale: development and validation with a sample of Portuguese adolescents

“…The first model was a one-factor structure, commonly used in delinquency research, especially when using variety scales (e.g. Bendixen and Olweus 1999;Trinkner et al 2012;Weerman 2011). The second alternative model tested was based on the seriousness of the behaviors and it was a two-factor structure, composed by serious and minor infractions (see Table 1 for information on the items' composing each of the factors), which is also commonly used (e.g.…”

“…The first one was a single-factor model, frequently used in deviance and delinquency research, namely when a variety scale is used (e.g. Brown and Jennings 2014;Hirtenlehner et al 2014;Sanches et al 2012;Smith and McVie 2003;Sutton and Winnard 2007;Trinkner et al 2012;Weerman 2011;Yu et al 2013). The second one was based on the seriousness of the infractions and is a two-factor model composed by minor and serious infractions (which correspond to high and low prevalence rates respectively), that is also quite common, namely in research using variety scales (e.g.…”