This study examines whether structural properties of friendship networks condition the association between friends' delinquency and an individual's own delinquent behavior. Data from the Add Health allows a more accurate conceptualization of the peer network and a more rigorous measurement of peer delinquency than previous research. Findings from this study indicate that friends' delinquency is associated with an adolescent's own delinquency involvement. However, characteristics of adolescents' friendship networks, such as its density and adolescents' centrality and popularity, condition the delinquency‐peer association. Network density, in particular, emerges as an important component of the delinquency‐peer association, with very cohesive networks containing stronger delinquency‐peer associations than those that are less cohesive. These findings suggest that it is necessary to consider the underlying structural properties of friendship networks in order to understand the impact of peer influence on adol...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/320298

Delinquent Peers Revisited: Does Network Structure Matter?1

Although acknowledging the importance of adolescent friendships in the etiology of delinquency, prior studies have yet to provide a detailed examination of the role of actual friendship networks in delinquency. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1995–1996), this study’s incorporation of friendship networks allows for a more rigorous conceptualization and measurement of peer delinquency based on carefully defined networks of adolescent friendships. Findings illustrate that friendship networks are very heterogenous in terms of members’ participation in delinquent behavior with the majority of adolescents belonging to networks containing both delinquent and non-delinquent friends. In support of differential association’s premise that delinquent behavior is influenced by the ratio of definitions favorable to those unfavorable to law violation (Sutherland, 1947), the proportion of delinquent friends in a respondent’s network is most strongly associated with respondents’ subsequent delinquency. This relative measure of peer delinquency is preferable to a measure of the absolute level of delinquency occurring by friends, the average delinquency committed by friends, or the absolute number of delinquent friends. Enmeshment in a friendship network where consensus about the appropriateness of delinquency is maximized (i.e., all friends are delinquent or non-delinquent) most effectively constrains the behaviors of network members to resemble the groups’ behavior.

/pdf/friendship-networks-and-delinquency-the-relative-nature-of-4s349xmirg.pdf

Friendship Networks and Delinquency: The Relative Nature of Peer Delinquency

The new homelessness has drawn sustained attention from scholars over the past three decades. Definitional inconsistencies and data limitations rendered early work during this period largely speculative in nature. Thanks to conceptual, theoretical, and methodological progress, however, the research literature now provides a fuller understanding of homelessness. Contributions by sociologists and other social scientists since the mid-1990s differentiate among types of homelessness, provide credible demographic estimates, and show how being homeless affects a person’s life chances and coping strategies. Agreement also exists about the main macro- and micro-level causes of homelessness. Active lines of inquiry examine public, media, and governmental responses to the problem as well as homeless people’s efforts to mobilize on their own behalf. Despite the obstacles faced when studying a stigmatized population marked by high turnover and weak anchors to place, recent investigations have significantly influenced homelessness policy. A greater emphasis on prevention should further strengthen the research-policy nexus.

/pdf/the-new-homelessness-revisited-2dnitcqw90.pdf

The New Homelessness Revisited

Haynie's (2001) work on the structural dimensions of peer networks demonstrated how the characteristics of networks may influence individual delinquent behavior. This study extends the network appr...

The social context of violent victimization: A study of the delinquent peer effect

A literature review of research into interventions among street youth is presented along with the results of a qualitative analysis of interviews with 80 street youth on the topic of coping. Themes arising from the qualitative analysis include street youths' negative and positive experiences with social support; and attitudes and beliefs such as self-worth, decreased reactivity to other's opinions, hope for the future, pride in self-reliance, anger/non-conformity, and spirituality. Recommendations of this study include the need for outcome research and programme evaluation, inclusion of sociocultural factors as variables, and accessing the experiences of street youth.

Street Youth: Coping and Interventions

Runaway and homeless youth are at high risk for substance abuse and unsafe sexual behavior. Our study describes the personal social networks of these youth and examines network characteristics associated with risky behaviors. In 1995 and 1996, we interviewed a purposive sample of youth aged 14 through 21 who were living in Washington, DC and were identified on the streets or through shelters or other service agencies (N = 327). Although we found that most youth reported current social relationships, a significant minority (26%) did not. Youth without a social network were significantly more likely to report current illicit drug use, multiple sex partners, and survival sex than youth with a network. For youth with a network, the networks were small, strong in affective and supportive qualities, comprised primarily of friends, typically included an alcohol or illicit drug user, and usually were not a source of pressure for risky behaviors. Our results indicate that networks had risk-enhancing and risk-decreasing properties in that network characteristics were associated in both positive and negative directions with risky behaviors. Language: en

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2676379.pdf

E. B. Federman

Papers

Social network characteristics associated with risky behaviors among runaway and homeless youth.