The Structure and Behavioral Content of New Students’ Friendship Networks

• In Event: Peer and Gang Influences on Delinquency

Abstract

Prior research indicates that residential and school mobility have negative consequences for youth development, including poor academic and behavioral adjustment. Theoretical accounts for this relationship suggest that moving disrupts social ties and exposes movers to new peer groups. In the process of finding new friends, deviant peer groups may provide a viable option for newcomers since these peer groups tend to have fluid boundaries and are less exclusive. Despite this explanation, few studies have examined this potential mechanism. The current study aims to address this gap by examining the structural and compositional characteristics of new students’ friendship networks. If moving has negative consequences for youth development, we expect new students to be more likely to join deviant peer groups compared to students who have not moved. On the other hand, the failure to identify causal mechanisms suggests that the relationship between mobility and negative youth outcomes may be the result of self-selection. We explore these possibilities using longitudinal social network data from a sample of middle school students nested in 27 communities in the United States.

Authors

• Alex Widdowson, Florida State University

• Sonja Siennick, Florida State University

• Daniel T. Ragan, Pennsylvania State University