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Influence and Selection In the Friend‐adolescent Relationship: Findings from Studies of Adolescent Smoking and Drinking 1
Author(s) -
Fisher Lynn A.,
Bauman Karl E.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1988.tb00018.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , developmental psychology , sociometry , homogeneity (statistics) , peer influence , statistics , artificial intelligence , computer science , mathematics
The importance of friend influence as a determinant of adolescent behavior has primarily been inferred from research that has repeatedly demonstrated the behavior of friends to be similar. Homogeneity among peers, however, could also be due to a selection process whereby adolescents choose and keep friends whose behavior is similar to their own. Most previous studies have used cross‐sectional designs that cannot delineate the source of peer homogeneity; this study employed sociometric data from longitudinal research on adolescent smoking and drinking to separate and examine the selection and influence processes. Although the findings indicate some support for the friend influence model, the acquisition hypothesis from the selection model accounts for substantially more of the adolescent‐friend relationship. The implications of these results for past and future research concerning the role of peers in adolescence are discussed.