title: The stability and predictors of peer group deviance in university students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peer group deviance (PGD) is strongly associated with current and future externalizing behaviors. Debate remains about the degree to which this association arises from social selection. The first year of university constitutes a social experiment in which most individuals leave their home environment and recreate for themselves a new peer group.
  
  
  METHODS
  PGD was measured in newly arrived university students and then 6 and 18 months later. Other personality and family traits were also assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PGD reported for high school friends at the start of university and university friends 6 months later were substantially correlated (+0.60). This correlation was only slightly diminished if restricted to students whose home was greater than 50 miles from the university. PGD was strongly predicted across three cohorts by male sex (+), extraversion (+), conscientiousness (-), a family history of alcohol use disorders (+) and depression (+), and religiosity (-).These predictors of PGD had a relatively stable impact over 18 months and, aside from sex, differed only modestly in males and females.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As individuals change social groups from high school to university, the level of PGD remains relatively stable, suggesting that individuals play a strong role in selecting peer groups with consistent characteristics. PGD is also predicted cross-sectionally and longitudinally by personality, family background and religiosity. Our results suggest that the association between personal and peer deviance is due at least in part to the effects of social selection.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 800 E. Leigh Street, Room 1-123, Box 980126, Richmond, VA, 23298-0126, USA. kendler@vcu.edu.|Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA. kendler@vcu.edu.|Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA. kendler@vcu.edu.
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 800 E. Leigh Street, Room 1-123, Box 980126, Richmond, VA, 23298-0126, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 800 E. Leigh Street, Room 1-123, Box 980126, Richmond, VA, 23298-0126, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.|Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.|Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010551:Personality; D012067:Religion; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: College; Development; Family history; Peer deviance; Personality