Social Network Dynamics and Moderators of Peer Influence: How Friendship Characteristics Moderate Peer Influence

• In Event: The Social Networks of Gangs

Abstract

The proliferation of longitudinal social network analysis in criminology has provided unique insights that have transformed our understanding of peer selection and peer influence. While researchers often find evidence of both selection and influence generally, less inquiry has focused on the conditions in which peer influence is more or less likely. This study draws on indicators of the relative importance of certain friends over others as identified in Sutherland’s (1947) theory of differential association. Using five waves of data collected bi-weekly from a 9th grade cohort, this study examines the ways in which friendship characteristics moderate the effects of peer influence on substance use and bullying behaviors. Specifically, while using stochastic actor-oriented modeling to account for peer selection, this study examines the potential moderation of influence effects by respondents’ reports of how their friends vary in importance, closeness, popularity, influence, and time spent together (i.e., frequency).

Author

• Samuel Peterson, University of Cincinnati