Friendship Networks, Community Context, and Substance Use: An Integrated Approach

• In Event: Network Criminology I: Social Networks and Substance Use

Abstract

Being friends with peers who use alcohol and other drugs is among the strongest predictors of whether an adolescent will engage in these behaviors, making peer dynamics a topic of great interest to both criminological theory and prevention programs. These friendships, like other interpersonal networks, are embedded in and influenced by the larger community, and a rich history of social-ecological research links community characteristics to problem- and health-related behaviors. Most existing studies, however, have been limited in their ability to answer questions about how adolescents’ broader community shapes the interplay between friendships and substance use. In this presentation, we outline an approach for connecting these factors through a research project that builds on existing survey data from a trial of the PROSPER prevention model. Geocoding students’ home addresses allows us to create measures—including distances between home addresses, whether students live near locations of interest, and Census variables—that capture the specific community context of each individual. By combining these community data with the students’ existing friendship and survey data, this project will provide new opportunities to examine the joint contribution of communities and friendships to adolescent substance use.

Authors

• Daniel T. Ragan, University of New Mexico

• Sarah M. Chilenski, Pennsylvania State University

• Mark E. Feinberg, Pennsylvania State University