The differential contributions of teen drinking homophily to new and existing friendships: An empirical assessment of assortative and proximity selection mechanisms

Abstract

Alcohol use is pervasive in adolescence. Though most research is concerned with how friends influence drinking, alcohol is also important for connecting teens to one another. Prior studies have not distinguished between new friendship creation, and existing friendship durability, however. We argue that accounting for distinctions in creation-durability processes is critical for understanding the selection mechanisms drawing drinkers into homophilous friendships, and the social integration that results. In order to address these issues, we applied stochastic actor based models of network dynamics to National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data. Adolescents only modestly prefer new friendships with others who drinker similarly, but greatly prefer friends who indirectly connect them to homophilous drinkers. These indirect homophilous drinker relationships are shorter lived, however, and suggest that drinking is a social focus that connects adolescents via proximity, rather than assortativity. These findings suggest that drinking leads to more situational and superficial social integration.

Dynamics in the European Air Transport Network, 2003–9: An Explanatory Framework Drawing on Stochastic Actor-Based Modeling

“…Since their introduction for network dynamics by Snijders (1995) and his colleagues, SABMs have been widely applied in various fields, ranging from friendship networks (Cheadle et al, 2013) to inter-organizational networks (Liu et al, 2013a;Liu et al, 2013c;Van de Bunt and Groenewegen, 2007), manufacturing networks (Buchmann and Pyka, 2013), political networks (Andrew, 2009;KINNE, 2013), and many other areas. However, to date this approach has not been applied to air transport networks, probably in part because of the high requirements in terms availability of longitudinal network data, which has been a longstanding limitation to analyze the changes of transportation networks using statistical analysis tools (Xie and Levinson, 2009).…”

Social causation and neighborhood selection underlie associations of neighborhood factors with illicit drug-using social networks and illicit drug use among adults relocated from public housing

“…In assortative processes, individuals seek out others who can increase access to information, emotional support, and other resources. In situational processes, people select into specific social settings where they believe shared norms and goals are upheld (Cheadle et al, 2013; Rivera et al, 2010). Social selection has also been described as relational because network members may be connected by mutual friends (Cheadle et al, 2013; Rivera et al, 2010).…”

“…In situational processes, people select into specific social settings where they believe shared norms and goals are upheld (Cheadle et al, 2013; Rivera et al, 2010). Social selection has also been described as relational because network members may be connected by mutual friends (Cheadle et al, 2013; Rivera et al, 2010). Social selection can be understood as “birds of a feather flocking together”(McPherson et al, 2001).…”

“…In other words, people who use illicit drugs may intentionally select friends and sexual partners who also use illicit drugs. A number of observational studies among adolescents and young adults have documented temporal associations between self-reported substance use and subsequent self-reported interaction with substance-using social network members (Bohnert et al, 2009; Cheadle et al, 2013; Cheadle et al, 2015; Eisenberg et al, 2014; M.-H. Go et al, 2010; M. H. Go et al, 2012; C.…”

Exploring the Social Integration of Sexual Minority Youth Across High School Contexts

“…Second, a count of friends is static, but peer relations are fluid. Consequently, a better way to capture the social integration or marginalization of sexual minority youth is to track what happens to their friendships over time (Cheadle, Stevens, Williams, & Goosby, 2013;Giordano, 2003). Third, networks have inherent dependencies that affect the odds of a friendship forming, raising the potential for misleading conclusions about what that friendship says about social integration (Baerveldt et al, 2004;Lazega & van Duijn, 1997;Steglich, Snijders, & Pearson, 2010).…”