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Chávez DV, Palacios D, Laninga-Wijnen L, Salmivalli C, Garandeau CF, Berger C, Luengo Kanacri BP. Do Adolescents Adopt the Prosocial Behaviors of the Classmates They Like? A Social Network Analysis on Prosocial Contagion. J Youth Adolesc 2024:10.1007/s10964-024-02037-z. [PMID: 38963579 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-024-02037-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
While the influence of high-status peers on maladaptive behaviors is well-documented, socialization processes of prosocial behavior through high-status peers remain understudied. This study examined whether adolescents' prosocial behavior was influenced by the prosocial behavior of the peers they liked and whether this effect was stronger when the peers they liked were also well-liked by their classmates. Three waves of data, six months apart, were collected among Chilean early adolescents who completed peer nominations and ratings at Time 1 (n = 294, Mage = 13.29, SD = 0.62; 55.1% male), Time 2 (n = 282), and Time 3 (n = 275). Longitudinal social network analyses showed that adolescents adopted the prosocial behavior of the classmates they liked - especially if these classmates were well-liked by peers in general. In addition, adolescents low in likeability were more susceptible to this influence than adolescents high in likeability. The influence resulted both in increases and - especially - decreases in prosocial behavior, depending on the level of prosociality of the liked peer. Findings suggest that likeability represents an important aspect of peer status that may be crucial for understanding the significance of peer influence with respect to prosocial behaviors during adolescence. Pre-Registration: https://osf.io/u4pxm .
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela V Chávez
- School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
- INVEST Research Flagship/Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
| | - Diego Palacios
- Society and Health Research Center (CISS), Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus for the Evaluation and Analysis of Drug Policies (nDP), Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus on Sociomedicine (SocioMed), Santiago, Chile
| | | | | | - Claire F Garandeau
- INVEST Research Flagship/Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Christian Berger
- School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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Littlecott HJ, Moore GF, McCann M, Melendez-Torres GJ, Mercken L, Reed H, Mann M, Dobbie F, Hawkins J. Exploring the association between school-based peer networks and smoking according to socioeconomic status and tobacco control context: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:142. [PMID: 35057769 PMCID: PMC8772141 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12333-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Whilst prevalence of youth smoking in middle and high income countries has decreased, inequality has prevailed. The introduction of legislation regulating tobacco use in public spaces varies across countries, impacting the tobacco control context. Thus reviewing our knowledge of how social networks may influence smoking differently within different contexts is required to facilitate the development of context-specific interventions. METHODS The search, conducted on 31st May 2019, included the following smoking-related terms; schools, adolescents, peers and social networks. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied throughout the title and abstract screening and full text screening. Quality assessment and synthesis followed. Studies were narratively synthesised to identify changes according to legislative context. This synthesis was conducted separately for findings relating to three categories: socioeconomic status; social selection and influence; and network position. RESULTS Thirty studies were included. Differences in the relationship between network characteristics and smoking according to socioeconomic status were measured in five out of fifteen studies in Europe. Results varied across studies, with differences in network characteristics and their association with smoking varying both between schools of a differing and those of a similar socioeconomic composition. For studies conducted both before and after the introduction of comprehensive smoking legislation, the evidence for selection processes was more consistent than influence, which varied according to reciprocity. Findings showed that isolates were more likely to smoke and in-degree and out-degree centrality were related to smoking both before and after the introduction of legislation. The relationship between popularity and smoking was contingent on school level smoking prevalence in studies conducted before the introduction of legislation, but not after. CONCLUSIONS Overall, effects according to socioeconomic status were underreported in the included studies and no consistent evidence of change after the introduction of a comprehensive smoking ban was observed. Further network analyses are required using more recent data to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how network processes may influence smoking differently according to socioeconomic status, and how adaptation could be used to enhance intervention effectiveness. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) registration number: CRD42019137358 .
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Affiliation(s)
- H J Littlecott
- Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 1-3 Museum Place, CF10 3BD, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
| | - G F Moore
- Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 1-3 Museum Place, CF10 3BD, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - M McCann
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Berkeley Square, 99 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, G3 7HR, UK
| | - G J Melendez-Torres
- Peninsula Technology Assessment Group (PenTAG), South Cloisters, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK
| | - L Mercken
- Department of Health Promotion, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - H Reed
- Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 1-3 Museum Place, CF10 3BD, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - M Mann
- Specialist Unit for Review Evidence, Cardiff University, 6th Floor, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park Campus, CF14 4YS, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - F Dobbie
- Usher Institute- University of Edinburgh, Doorway 1, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK
| | - J Hawkins
- Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 1-3 Museum Place, CF10 3BD, Cardiff, Wales, UK
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Genotype-environment correlation by intervention effects underlying middle childhood peer rejection and associations with adolescent marijuana use. Dev Psychopathol 2020; 34:171-182. [PMID: 33349288 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579420001066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Aggressive behavior in middle childhood can contribute to peer rejection, subsequently increasing risk for substance use in adolescence. However, the quality of peer relationships a child experiences can be associated with his or her genetic predisposition, a genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In addition, recent evidence indicates that psychosocial preventive interventions can buffer genetic predispositions for negative behavior. The current study examined associations between polygenic risk for aggression, aggressive behavior, and peer rejection from 8.5 to 10.5 years, and the subsequent influence of peer rejection on marijuana use in adolescence (n = 515; 256 control, 259 intervention). Associations were examined separately in control and intervention groups for children of families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the family-based preventive intervention, the Family Check-Up . Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), polygenic risk for aggression was associated with peer rejection from approximately age 8.50 to 9.50 in the control group but no associations were present in the intervention group. Subsequent analyses showed peer rejection mediated the association between polygenic risk for aggression and adolescent marijuana use in the control group. The role of rGEs in middle childhood peer processes and implications for preventive intervention programs for adolescent substance use are discussed.
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Graupensperger S, Benson AJ, Bray BC, Evans MB. Social cohesion and peer acceptance predict student-athletes' attitudes toward health-risk behaviors: A within- and between-group investigation. J Sci Med Sport 2019; 22:1280-1286. [PMID: 31349958 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2019.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Collegiate student-athletes often engage in health-risk behaviors such as alcohol misuse and hazing, but the literature in this domain lacks evidence pertaining to how peers shape attitudes towards such behaviors. We investigated how peer acceptance and social cohesion relate to attitudes towards alcohol use, marijuana use, drinking and driving, playing through a concussion, performance enhancing substance use, and hazing. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. METHODS Participants were 387 NCAA athletes from 23 intact teams. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the extent that health-risk attitudes clustered within teams and enabled us to disentangle individual-level and group-level effects of peer acceptance and social cohesion. RESULTS Intraclass correlation coefficients revealed that health-risk attitudes clustered within teams. At the individual-level, student-athletes who perceived higher levels of peer acceptance, relative to teammates, held riskier attitudes towards alcohol use, playing through a concussion, and hazing. Meanwhile, those who perceived higher levels of social cohesion relative to teammates held less risky attitudes towards playing through a concussion. At the group-level, teams with greater peer acceptance held less risky attitudes towards playing through a concussion, whereas teams with greater social cohesion held riskier attitudes toward playing through a concussion. CONCLUSIONS These data indicated that health-risk behaviors may cluster within teams, and that peer acceptance and cohesiveness are differentially associated with attitudes toward risky behavior. Given that peer influence is a multilevel phenomenon, it is prudent that prevention efforts leverage social processes within teams, while reducing pressures to engage in risky behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alex J Benson
- University of Western Ontario, Department of Psychology, United States
| | - Bethany C Bray
- Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science, University of Illinois at Chicago
| | - M Blair Evans
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Kinesiology, United States
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Henneberger AK, Gest SD, Zadzora KM. Preventing Adolescent Substance Use: A Content Analysis of Peer Processes Targeted Within Universal School-Based Programs. J Prim Prev 2019; 40:213-230. [PMID: 30820746 PMCID: PMC8436646 DOI: 10.1007/s10935-019-00544-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Universal school-based substance use prevention programs are widely disseminated and often include a focus on peer relationships. Network theory and social network analysis (SNA) have emerged as useful theoretical and methodological frameworks for examining the role of peer relationships in prevention and intervention research. We used content analysis to systematically code the peer processes targeted by three universal school based prevention programs. We found that programs focused on peer socialization more than peer selection, and programs focused about evenly on descriptive and injunctive norms. Programs varied in their focus on positive and negative peer processes and behaviors, but most references to peer processes focused on positive processes and negative behaviors. The focus on peer processes at the dyadic, subgroup, and network levels varied across the three programs, with the heaviest focus on network level processes. When peer processes were targeted, it was rare that lessons focused on peer processes for an extended (> 50%) amount of the lesson content. However, when peer processes were a focus, discussion and reflection were commonly encouraged. These patterns are considered in the context of non-intervention research on adolescent peer relations, which highlights the importance of peer selection and dyad-level processes, and the existence of positive peer processes that promote adolescent development. In doing so, we provide a framework that can be used to (1) examine the extent to which a particular program focuses on the different peer processes, and (2) inform systematic experimental studies of the extent to which particular peer processes are malleable in response to intervention efforts.
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