Open AccessPeer Network Processes in Adolescents’ Health Lifestyles
Author(s) -
Jeffrey M. Adams,
Elizabeth Lawrence,
Joshua A. Goode,
David R. Schaefer,
Stefanie Mollborn
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of health and social behavior/journal of health and social behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.649
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 2150-6000
pISSN - 0022-1465
DOI - 10.1177/00221465211054394
Subject(s) - friendship , adolescent health , salience (neuroscience) , psychology , longitudinal study , developmental psychology , social psychology , latent class model , social network (sociolinguistics) , peer group , health behavior , environmental health , medicine , social media , cognitive psychology , statistics , nursing , mathematics , pathology , political science , law
Combining theories of health lifestyles-interrelated health behaviors arising from group-based identities-with those of network and behavior change, we investigated network characteristics of health lifestyles and the role of influence and selection processes underlying these characteristics. We examined these questions in two high schools using longitudinal, complete friendship network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Latent class analyses characterized each school's predominant health lifestyles using several health behavior domains. School-specific stochastic actor-based models evaluated the bidirectional relationship between friendship networks and health lifestyles. Predominant lifestyles remained stable within schools over time, even as individuals transitioned between lifestyles. Friends displayed greater similarity in health lifestyles than nonfriend dyads. Similarities resulted primarily from teens' selection of friends with similar lifestyles but also from teens influencing their peers' lifestyles. This study demonstrates the salience of health lifestyles for adolescent development and friendship networks.