Negative and positive peer influence: Relations to positive and negative behaviors for African American, European American, and Hispanic adolescents.
The purpose of the current study was to examine adolescents' perceptions of negative and positive peer influence (i.e., indirect peer association and direct peer pressure) as they related to adolescent behavior. Regression analyses were conducted using a sample of African American, European American, and Hispanic adolescents (N=1659, M age=16.06, SD=1.10). The study found differences and similarities in relation to respondents' ethnicity vis-à-vis indirect peer association and adolescent behavior. Although few ethnic-based differences occurred as a function of indirect negative peer association, indirect positive peer association was not as consistently or as strongly related to behaviors for minority youth as it was for European American youth.
Padilla-Walker
Laura M
LM
School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 2097 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA. laura_walker@byu.edu
Bean
Roy A
RA
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult