title: Changing Friend Selection in Middle School: A Social Network Analysis of a Randomized Intervention Study Designed to Prevent Adolescent Problem Behavior.
abstract: Adolescent friendships that promote problem behavior are often chosen in middle school. The current study examines the unintended impact of a randomized school-based intervention on the selection of friends in middle school, as well as on observations of deviant talk with friends 5 years later. Participants included 998 middle school students (526 boys and 472 girls) recruited at the onset of middle school (age 11-12 years) from three public middle schools participating in the Family Check-up model intervention. The current study focuses only on the effects of the SHAPe curriculum-one level of the Family Check-up model-on friendship choices. Participants nominated friends and completed measures of deviant peer affiliation. Approximately half of the sample (n = 500) was randomly assigned to the intervention, and the other half (n = 498) comprised the control group within each school. The results indicate that the SHAPe curriculum affected friend selection within school 1 but not within schools 2 or 3. The effects of friend selection in school 1 translated into reductions in observed deviancy training 5 years later (age 16-17 years). By coupling longitudinal social network analysis with a randomized intervention study, the current findings provide initial evidence that a randomized public middle school intervention can disrupt the formation of deviant peer groups and diminish levels of adolescent deviance 5 years later.
authors.affiliation: T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, PO Box 873701, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA. dawn.delay@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeLay
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR), Arizona State University, 550 E. Orange St., Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Thao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Dr., Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Ryzin
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon, 1585 E 13th Ave, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: REACH Institute, Arizona State University, PO Box 876005, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Dishion
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012574:Schools
keywords: Adolescence; Deviancy training; Deviant peers; Friend selection; Intervention effects