The Role of Gender and Friends’ Gender on Peer Socialization of Adolescent Drinking: A Prospective Multilevel Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Although socializing effects of friends’ drinking on adolescent drinking behavior have been firmly established in previous literature, study results on the importance of gender, as well as the specific role that gender may play in peer socialization, are very mixed. Given the increasing importance of gender in friendships (particularly opposite-sex friendships) during adolescence, it is necessary to better understand the nuanced roles that gender can play in peer socialization effects on alcohol use. In addition, previous studies focusing on the interplay between individual gender and friends’ gender have been largely dyadic; less is known about potential gendered effects of broader social networks. The current study sought to further investigate potential effects of gender on friends’ influence on adolescent drinking behavior with particular emphasis on the number of same-sex and opposite-sex friends within one’s friendship network, as well as closeness to these friends. Using Waves I and II of the saturated sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), adolescent friendship networks were used to calculate the mean drinking behaviors of adolescent friends. Multi-level models estimated the effects of individual drinking behaviors, friend drinking behaviors, and school-level drinking behaviors on adolescent drinking 1 year later, as well as moderating effects of gender composition of friendship groups and male and female friend closeness on the relationship between friends’ drinking behaviors and adolescent drinking behavior. Results documented that gender composition of friendship groups did not influence the effect of friends’ drinking on individual drinking 1 year later. However, closeness to friends did influence this relationship. As closeness to male friends decreased, the influence of their drinking behavior increased, for both boys and girls. A similar effect was found for female friends, but only for boys. Female friend closeness did not affect the relationship between peer alcohol socialization and girls’ alcohol use. The findings indicate that the role of gender on alcohol socialization may be more complex than previously thought, particularly when examining the potential role that alcohol use may play as a mechanism for social bonding within opposite-sex friendships and same-sex male friendships.

The Role of Gender in Adolescents' Social Networks and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use: A Systematic Review

“…Several researchers have highlighted the differences in adolescent male and female social relations, network structure, and extent to which they take on attributes of other adolescents within their networks. 8,[39][40][41] Despite the fact that social processes are quite dissimilar for an adolescent male and female (regardless of cultural contexts), findings from this review demonstrated a paucity of studies examining the relationship between sex structure of peer interactions and substance use behavior.…”

“…To illustrate this relationship, consider the following example: in a same‐sex male friendship/relationship, males—who may consume alcohol excessively—will equally and mutually influence one another's drinking behavior. Yet, in mixed‐sex friendships, a heavy drinking male friend may exert a stronger influence on the female friend's drinking pattern while the female has little impact on the male friend's behavior …”

“…4,9 In contrast to same-sex relationships/friendships or networks, adolescents in male-female (hereafter referred to as mixed-sex) friendships/relationships or networks may influence each other in different ways, with male friends hypothesized to have a stronger influence on their female friends' behavior. 10,11 To illustrate this relationship, consider the following example: in a same-sex male friendship/relationship, males-who may consume alcohol excessively-will equally and mutually influence one another's drinking behavior. Yet, in mixed-sex friendships, a heavy drinking male friend may exert a stronger influence on the female friend's drinking pattern while the female has little impact on the male friend's behavior.…”

“…Yet, in mixed-sex friendships, a heavy drinking male friend may exert a stronger influence on the female friend's drinking pattern while the female has little impact on the male friend's behavior. 4,10,11 Another perspective proposes that female adolescents will tend to adopt the drinking habits of their friends because females place more importance on conforming than males do in order to maintain close ties. [12][13][14][15][16] Conversely, some studies on adolescent drinking posit that males, more than females, feel more pressure to conform to the drinking patterns of their friends, as males in those studies perceived drinking to have little to no consequences to them.…”

Egocentric Network and Condom Use Among Mid-Age Female Sex Workers in China: A Multilevel Modeling Analysis

“…41 Multilevel network analysis has been used in a limited number of social network studies, including: adolescent drinking, 42 unprotected sex of homeless youth, 43 personal support networks of immigrants, 44 and the role of health discussion among partners to help recover from mental illness. 45 In this study, we address the lack of empirical studies using multiple contextual influences on condom use among midage FSWs.…”