collaborators : maryfrances porter, ph.d. penny marsh kathleen mcelhaney, ph.d
DESCRIPTION
Predicting Who Will be Most Susceptible to Peer Influence Regarding Substance Use: Individual, Familial, and Peer Risk Factors Joseph P. Allen Joanna Chango Megan Schad David E. Szwedo University of Virginia. Farah Williams, Ph.D. Katie Little Jill Antonishak , Ph.D . Katy Higgins. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Predicting Who Will be Most Susceptible to Peer Influence Regarding Substance Use:
Individual, Familial, and Peer Risk Factors
Joseph P. AllenJoanna ChangoMegan Schad
David E. SzwedoUniversity of Virginia
Collaborators:Maryfrances Porter, Ph.D.Penny MarshKathleen McElhaney, Ph.D.F. Christy McFarland, Ph.D.Jessica Meyer, Ph.D.
Farah Williams, Ph.D.Katie LittleJill Antonishak, Ph.D.Katy Higgins
Claire StephensonMindy Schmidt, Ph.D.Glenda Insabella, Ph.D.Erin MigaAmanda Hare
Copies of this and related papers are available at:WWW.TEENRESEARCH.ORG
Characteristics of Peer Influence in Adolescence
Inevitable
Not Restricted to Low Functioning Teens
Can be Positive or Negative
Questionable Magnitude: Selection vs. Influence
Key Premise
Peer Influence Processes May Only Show Up Powerfully Under Certain conditions.
Key Question
When Will a Teen be MOST likely to be influenced by Peers?
Theoretical Framework
Managing Peer Influence as an Autonomy Process
As teens gain autonomy from parents, at first they sacrifice some autonomy with peers
Autonomy development will be key to understanding peer influence
Autonomy development must be viewed in context
Hypotheses
Susceptibility to Peer Influence Will be Linked to:
Susceptibility to Peer
Influence
Autonomy/Relatedness Struggles
Refusal Skills with
Peers
Peer Social Status
Family Context Individual Skills Peer Context
Sample
184 Adolescents, their Parents, Best Friends, and Other Friends
Intensive Interviews and Observations with all parties (Total N over first 10 years ~ 1600).
Equal numbers of Males and Females
We’ll focus on period of peak influence: ages 15 to 16
Socio-economically Diverse (Median Family Income= $40- $60K)
31% African American; 69% European American
Very Low Attrition (< 1%)
Defining Influence
Becoming More Like One’s Peers Focus on Actual Behavior
We focused on Substance Use Problematic Quintessential example of peer influence concerns
Measures: Substance Use
• Alcohol and Drug Use Questionnaire (Johnston, O’Malley, & Bachman, 1987, “Monitoring the Future” surveys)
• Combined Frequency of Alcohol & Marijuana Use in Past 30 days
• Self-report measure obtained from both target teen and the target teen’s closest friend.
Assessing Peer Influence
Examine Change in Substance Use from Age 15 to 16 for Target Teen
Can this Change be Predicted from Close Friend’s Baseline Substance Use at Age 15?
In other words: Does a teen’s level of use change to become more like what their friend’s use was at 15?
In context of general pattern of increasing substance use in the sample as a whole during this period.
Hypothetically Modeling Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use Flat Line =
No Prediction from Baseline Peer Use toChange in Target Teen
Use
Hypothetically Modeling Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Positive Slope = Baseline Peer Use Predicts Future
Change in Target Teen Use (i.e., Peer
Influence)
Actual Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Baseline Peer Use Predicts Future
Change in Target Teen Use (i.e., Peer Influence
is Present)
Teen Substance
Use
Teen Substance
Use
Age 15 Age 16.70***
Predicting Target Teen Substance Use
Gender & Income
Peer Substance
Use
.46***
.28***
Key Question
Will some youths be more susceptible to this peer influence process? Which youths?
Hypotheses
Susceptibility to Peer Influence Will be Linked to:
Susceptibility to Peer
Influence
Autonomy/Relatedness Struggles
Refusal Skills with
Peers
Peer Social Status
Family Context Individual Skills Peer Context
Autonomy Measures: Recantations with Mother (Undermined Autonomy at Age 13)
• Autonomy & Relatedness Coding System (Allen et al., 2000)
• Observed 8-minute parent-teen interaction
• Focus is resolving an actual ongoing disagreement
• Adolescent Recantations – A teen backs down without having been given any reasons to do so, and without appearing convinced.
• A marker of fundamental autonomy difficulties
Teen Substance
Use
Teen Substance
Use
Age 15 Age 16.70***
Predicting Target Teen Substance Use
Gender & Income
Peer Substance
Use
.46***
.28***
Recantations
-.00
Recantations X Peer Use
.-19**
Recantations with Mother as a Moderator of Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Low Teen Recantations
High Teen Recantations
Measures: Maternal Support(Teen Age 13)
• Supportive Behavior Task Coding System– (Allen, et al., 2001; Crowell, et al., 1998; Julie et al., 1997)
• Observed 6-minute parent-teen interaction
• Teen asks for help with a problem
Maternal Support Score: Maternal demonstration of warmth, positivity, and valuing of the teen during the interaction
Maternal Support as a Moderator of Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Low Maternal Support
High Maternal Support
Hypotheses
Susceptibility to Peer Influence Will be Linked to:
Susceptibility to Peer
Influence
Autonomy/Relatedness Struggles
Refusal Skills with
Peers
Peer Social Status
Family Context Individual Skills Peer Context
Measures: Refusal Skills
• Adolescent Problem Inventory (Freedman & McFall, 1978)• Analogue measure
• Coded competence of teen responses to hypothetical problems
• Administered in two ways• 5 items administered with no prompts followed by:• 5 items administered AFTER telling teen of a deviant
hypothetical peer response.
• Peer Refusal Skills Score: How much does the teen’s competence-score deteriorate from the first to the second 5 items
Measures: Refusal SkillsSample Item
• UNPROMPTED ITEM:• Your with a friend in a department store who suggests stealing a
sweater.• What would you do?
• PROMPTED ITEM:• Describes a similar situation but teen is told:• Another teen said that in this situation, they would take the sweater
and run, • What would you do?
• Peer refusal skills score: The DIFFERENCE between responses on the two different types of items.
Refusal Skills as a Moderator of Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
High Refusal Skills
Low Refusal Skills
Hypotheses
Susceptibility to Peer Influence Will be Linked to:
Susceptibility to Peer
Influence
Autonomy/Relatedness Struggles
Refusal Skills with
Peers
Peer Social Status
Family Context Individual Skills Peer Context
Measures: Best Friend’s Popularity
• Sociometric Assessment –
• List 10 kids with whom you would most like to spend time on a Saturday night.
• A preference-based, not status-based measure.• i.e., who other teens would like to spend time with rather
than who they view as high in popularity/status.
Best Friend Popularity: Number of times best friend named by other peers as someone with whom they would like to spend time.
Peer Popularity as a Moderator of Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Less Popular Peer
More Popular Peer
Creating a Composite Measure of Susceptibility to Peer Influence
Summing Standardized Scores
Susceptibility to Peer
Influence
Recantations
Maternal Support (-)
Refusal Skills with Peers (-)
Peer Social Status
Family Context Individual Skills Peer Context
Composite Marker of Susceptibility to Peer Influence
-1 0 1-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Baseline Peer Substance Use
Rel
ativ
e C
hang
e in
Tar
get
Ado
lesc
ent S
ubst
ance
Use
Low Susceptibility
High Susceptibility
Teen Substance
Use
Teen Substance
Use
Age 15 Age 16.70***
Predicting Target Teen Substance Use
Gender & Income
Peer Substance
Use
.46***
.28***
Composite Susceptibility
-.05
Susceptibility X Peer Use
.33***
Interaction accounts for 11% of Variance in Teen Substance Use (and 22% of Change Variance)Main effect + Interaction accounts for16% of variance (32% of change variance)
Limitations
Error/random variation “noise” in assessing substance use
Only looking at one peer’s influence
One-year time frame
Susceptibility may not be all bad
Influence ≠ Negative Influence
Findings apply to one period in adolescence (age15-16)
Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org
Conclusions
We CAN identify predictors of susceptibility to peer influence
Need to consider susceptibility contextually
Not just individual factors (e.g., refusal skills)
But family factors (lack of autonomy, maternal support)
And Peer factors (friend popularity within the peer group)
Susceptibility to Peer Influence Can Explain Significant Additional Variance in Teen Substance Use
Copies of this and related papers are available at:www.TeenResearch.org