title: Individual Popularity, Peer Group Popularity Composition and Adolescents' Alcohol Consumption.
abstract: Previous studies have convincingly shown associations between popularity and adolescent drinking. This study examined whether the popularity composition of the peer group and the relative difference in popularity between adolescents and their peers are also associated with adolescent drinking. Participants were 800 adolescents (Mage= 14.73; SDage= 1.00; 51.6 % girls) from 31 classrooms who completed peer ratings of popularity and self-reports of alcohol consumption. Results showed that drinking was higher among popular than unpopular adolescents, higher among popular adolescents surrounded by less popular classmates, and lower in classrooms with more variability in popularity. Thus, beyond individual popularity, peer group popularity composition also should be taken into account when investigating antisocial and health risk behaviors in adolescence such as drinking.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. r.gommans@uu.nl.|Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. r.gommans@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2629-5524
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gommans
authors.affiliation: Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christoph M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gonneke W J M
authors.initials: GWJM
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Antonius H N
authors.initials: AHN
authors.lastname: Cillessen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tom F M
authors.initials: TFM
authors.lastname: Ter Bogt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D000066608:Underage Drinking / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; Alcohol use; Classroom composition; Popularity; Social comparison