Peer smoking, other peer attributes, and adolescent cigarette smoking: a social network analysis.
Peer attributes other than smoking have received little attention in the research on adolescent smoking, even though the developmental literature suggests the importance of multiple dimensions of adolescent friendships and peer relations. Social network analysis was used to measure the structure of peer relations (i.e., indicators of having friends, friendship quality, and status among peers) and peer smoking (i.e., friend and school smoking). We used three-level hierarchical growth models to examine the contribution of each time-varying peer variable to individual trajectories of smoking from age 11 to 17 while controlling for the other variables, and we tested interactions between the peer structure and peer smoking variables. Data were collected over five waves of assessment from a longitudinal sample of 6,579 students in three school districts. Findings suggest a greater complexity in the peer context of smoking than previously recognized.
Ennett
Susan T
ST
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. sennett@email.unc.edu
Faris
Robert
R
Hipp
John
J
Foshee
Vangie A
VA
Bauman
Karl E
KE
Hussong
Andrea
A
Cai
Li
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D033062:Friends; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012907:Smoking; D012925:Social Conformity; D012944:Social Support