•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This study examined whether adolescents’ perceptions that specific classmates drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes were associated with friendship and popularity nominations toward those classmates, beyond the classmates’ own self-reported substance use. Two-wave longitudinal classroom network data were used from the SNARE project, collected in October and December 2012 from 34 Dutch classrooms (N = 675; mean age at Wave 1 = 14.33 years; mean classroom proportion of girls = 47.7%). At both waves, students nominated their best friends, classmates they perceived as popular, and classmates they believed drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes. Peer-perceived use refers to these classmate-specific nominations of who drank or smoked. Students also reported their own alcohol and cigarette use. Bayesian multiplex stochastic actor-oriented models were estimated separately for drinking alcohol and smoking to model changes in friendship, popularity, and peer-perceived substance use networks. Adolescents were more likely to send friendship nominations to classmates they perceived as drinkers or smokers, even after adjusting for those classmates’ self-reported use. Peer-perceived use was not associated with sending popularity nominations to those classmates. In contrast, classmates who self-reported drinking, but not smoking, received more popularity nominations than classmates who did not self-report drinking. These findings suggest that peer perceptions of substance use are especially relevant for friendship selection, whereas self-reported drinking was more clearly associated with broader popularity in the classroom.

Suggested Reviewers

-Dr. Jessica Perkins, Vanderbilt University, [email protected] -Dr. David Schaefer, University of California - Irvine, [email protected] -Dr. Ashwin Rambaran, Radboud University, [email protected]

Download

Report Accessibility Issue

Share

COinS