Social networks and college drinking: probing processes of social influence and selection.
This study used a three-wave panel design (N = 119 complete cases for all waves) to test for social influence and selection in the relation of college students' heavy drinking and that of their social networks. Evidence emerged for both social influence and selection, leading the authors to probe more specialized issues related to each. Results regarding social influence revealed, further, that greater presence in the network of individuals that the focal respondent considered "drinking buddies" was predictive of one's own later drinking, controlling for potential confounds. Network demographic characteristics associated with a "risky" (i.e., heavy-drinking) network also were documented. An additional finding, important for selection, was that wave-to-wave change in average network drinking appeared to result primarily from network members with different drinking levels being added to and dropped from the network. Findings are discussed in the context of the recent renaissance in social-network research.
Reifman
Alan
A
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409-1162, USA. alan.reifman@ttu.edu
Watson
Wendy K
WK
McCourt
Andrea
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D012932:Social Facilitation; D012933:Social Identification; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013781:Texas