Adolescent Female Substance Use: an Examination of Male Peer Influences and Parental Control
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2010 Adolescent Female Substance Use: An Examination of Male Peer Influences and arP ental Control Sarah Gwynne Whiteford The University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons Recommended Citation Whiteford, Sarah Gwynne, "Adolescent Female Substance Use: An Examination of Male Peer Influences and Parental Control. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/922 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sarah Gwynne Whiteford entitled "Adolescent Female Substance Use: An Examination of Male Peer Influences and arP ental Control." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sociology. Suzanne Kurth, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Greer Litton Fox, Hoan Bui, Ben Feldmeyer Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sarah Gwynne Whiteford entitled “Adolescent Female Substance Use: An Examination of Male Peer Influences and Parental Control.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sociology. Suzanne Kurth, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Greer Litton Fox Hoan Bui Ben Feldmeyer Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records) Adolescent Female Substance Use: An Examination of Male Peer Influences and Parental Control A Dissertation Presented for the Doctorate of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Sarah Gwynne Whiteford December 2010 Copyright © 2010 by Sarah Gwynne Whiteford All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my major professor, my committee, my family, and my friends without whom I never could have persevered and completed my dissertation. Very special thanks to my major professor, Dr. Suzanne Kurth, who has provided me with guidance and direction throughout my graduate studies at the University of Tennessee. Her support has been crucial not only for my academic accomplishments, but for my mental and emotional well-being during these stressful times. I would also like to thank each of my committee members who have given their time and expertise to guide me in this research. Thank you to Dr. Greer Litton Fox for not only her guidance on this research but for the enjoyment I received from her class. I only wish I had met her earlier during my time at the University of Tennessee. Thank you to Dr. Hoan Bui for her help on this research as well as other research completed under her guidance and presented at various conferences over the years. Thank you to Dr. Ben Feldmeyer for the hours of statistical tutoring without which I never would have been able to complete this dissertation. Finally, thank you to Dr. Lois Presser for serving as my advisor during my time at the University of Tennessee. There are two additional people without whom none of this would have been possible. My mother and father have been more supportive, understanding, and encouraging than I ever could have hoped. Though I know they are ecstatic that I will finally be finished with my schooling, I hope they know how much I appreciate the opportunities they have provided for me and the unconditional love that they have always given me. I also want to give thanks to all of my extended family for their love and support over the years. Finally, I also want to thank a few very special friends. Thanks to Gina Benedict and Stacey Tucker for their part in making this process as painless as possible and for taking the time to get together and forget about things for awhile. Thanks to my lifelong friend Sarah Riley for always being up for a vacation, providing me with a chance to get away from work from time to time. None of this would have been possible without the love and support of all these people. Thank you. iii ABSTRACT Central to many theories of deviance and delinquency (differential association, social learning, and social bond) are peer and familial influences on deviant behavior. A conceptual framework that incorporated both peer and familial influence to address the role of cross-sex peers on female deviance was built based on a review of the literature. Using substance use as an indicator of deviance, the effects of having three forms of male associates (male friends, romantic partners, and sexual partners) on female substance use were examined. Focus was on the effects of different types of male peer relationships, how those effects differed from the effects of female peer relationships, and how parental control might be greater for girls with only female peers. The conceptual model incorporated three measures of parental control—parentally granted autonomy, parental presence at home, and time spent in shared activities with parents— that were used to test the effects of male associates on female substance use. Analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), one combined measure for male associates was regressed on female substance use while controlling for parental control measures to determine if the effects of male associates on female substance use were mediated by parental control. Results indicated that while each type of male associate increased the likelihood of female substance use, effects were stronger for romantic and sexual partners than for male friends. Female friends also increased the likelihood of substance use. While the effects of male friends did not significantly differ from the effects of female friends, the effects of romantic and sexual partners did. The effects of male associates were significant even with the inclusion of parental control measures. Though both relationships with male associates and parents significantly affected female substance use, results did not provide support for the conceptual model. With results providing greater support for theories of peer influence than parental influence, future research should continue to examine peer relationship influences on deviance, how these influences vary by type of association, and how gender effects peer influence processes. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page Chapter 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………. 1 Why Focus on Female Deviance…………………………………............................. 2 Male Influence on Female Deviance…………………………………..…………… 3 Gender, Peer Associations, and Deviant Behavior…………………………………… 4 Parental Control and Peer Associations……………………………………………….. 5 Types of Male Associates……………………………………………………………… 7 Chapter 2 Literature Review………………………………………….…………………… 9 Cross-Sex Associations in Adolescence…………………………………………….…. 9 Increase in Cross-Sex Associations during Adolescence…………………….…….. 11 Gender, Friendships, and Deviant Behavior…………………………………………… 13 Why Female Friends are Better at Discouraging Deviant Behavior……………. 14 Male Friend Effects on Female Deviance………………………………………….. 15 Romantic Relationships in Adolescence………………………………………………. 19 The Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence…………………….. 19 Romantic Partner Effects on Female Deviance……………………………………. 22 Sexual Partners………………………………………………………………………… 24 “Sexual Partner” versus “Romantic Partner”………………………………………. 26 Sexual Partner Influence on Deviant Behavior………………………………….…. 27 Chapter 3 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………..……. 29 Theories of Peer Influence on Delinquency……………………………………….…… 31 Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory…………………………………..….. 32 Akers’ Social Learning Theory…………………………………………………….. 33 Differential Association, Social Learning, and Peer Effects on Delinquency……… 35 Theories of Parental Control…………………………………………………………… 38 Attachment to Parents and Parental Supervision…………………………………… 40 Involvement and Opportunity………………………………………………………. 43 Parental Control, Opportunity, and Delinquent Peers………………………………. 46 Building a New Conceptual Model………………………………………………… 48 Chapter 4 Methods……………………………………………………………………….. 52 Data………………………………………………………………………………..…… 52 Measures……………………………………………………………………………….. 54 Substance Use Measures……………………………………………………………. 55 Peer Associate Measures…………………………………………………………….. 62 Parental Control Measures………………………………………………………….. 74 Control Measures………………………………………………………………..… 82 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………. 84 Complex Sampling Design………………………………………………………… 84 Pearson’s Correlations…………………………………………………………….… 85 Regression Analyses………………………………………………………….…… 87 Chapter 5 Results……………………………………………………………………………