The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Peer Group Revisited: A Network Approach for Understanding Adolescent Delinquency Author(s): Dana L. Haynie Document No.: 195086 Date Received: July 2002 Award Number: 99-IJ-CX-0022 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School THE PEER GROUP REVISITED: A NETWORK APPROACH FOR UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENT DELINQUENCY A Thesis in Sociology by Dana L. Haynie Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 1999 *Award number 99-IJ-CX-0022 from the Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the US.Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. We approve the thesis of Dana L. Haynie. Date of Signature Darrell Steffensmeier Professor of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice Thesis Advisor Co-Chair of Committee D. Wayne Osgood Professor of Crime, Law, and Justice and Sociology Co-Chair of Committee Martina Morris Professor of Sociology and Statistics Nancy Darling Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies Barrett A. Lee Professor of Sociology Head of the Department of Sociology This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Abstract Assuming that social networks both direct and constrain the behavior of their participants, it is important to examine whether the peer group’s structure and composition are associated with patterns of delinquency. Potentially important characteristics of the adolescent’s network include the number of friendship nominations given and received (size), how many others can access the adolescent (reach), how tightly the adolescent is integrated into the network (density), the adolescent’s position within the network (centrality), and the adolescent’s status within the peer network (leading crowd membership). I propose that the influence of the peer group’s behavior (e.g., delinquency) on an individual’s own behavior will be modified by these network characteristics. Additionally, the relationships will depend on the adolescent’s age (i.e., will change developmentally) and will be moderated by school characteristics such as the school’s sociometric network characteristics (density, sex and age heterogeneity, reciprocated friendship ties), demographic characteristics (student composition, school size, school type), and behavioral climate (school’s alienation index, school’s mean grade point average). The Adolescent Health Survey provides several advantages over data used in prior research to address these issues in novel ways. Perhaps the most important advantage of these data, in terms of this project, is the inclusion of exceptionally detailed social network information on high school-aged adolescents. Not only do the network data allow more accurate conceptualization of the peer group, but they also allow for a more rigorous measurement of peer delinquency. Instead of relying on respondent’s reporting ... 111 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. of peers’ delinquent behavior, the network-based design incorporates the peers’ self- reported delinquent behavior, as well as the school context in which these behaviors occur. These data are analyzed using multilevel modelling techniques (hierarchical generalized linear models) where adolescents and their peer groups are situated within the school environment. This allows school characteristics to both influence average levels of delinquency as well as to moderate the relationship between peer network characteristics and adolescent delinquency. Drawing on criminological, developmental, and social network literature, this research improves current science by providing a systematic empirical basis for the investigation of the ways in which peer groups influence delinquent behavior. Findings from this study indicate that 1) peer group delinquency, as measured by responses from friends composing the adolescent’s egocentric network, is robustly associated with an adolescent’s own delinquency involvement; 2) this relationship persists whether the focus is on violent offending or property offending; 3) the delinquency-peer group association is conditioned by characteristics of the adolescent’s egocentric friendship network such as density, size, centrality, reach, popularity, and integration; 4) delinquent peers have the strongest association with a respondent’s delinquency in early adolescence (compared to middle and late adolescence), whereas the ability of network characteristics to condition the delinquency-peer group association remains largely age-invariant; and 5) school characteristics (e.g. school network density, school alienation) are associated with average levels of delinquency involvement, but rarely moderate the delinquency-peer group association. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1v This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ... List of Figures Vlll List of Tables ix Acknowledgements xi Chapter One: The Delinquency-Peer Group Relationship 1 1.1 Introduction (Research Questions) 1 1.2 Studies of the Delinquency-Peer Group Relationship 5 1.3 Developmental Significance of Friendship Groups 10 1.4 School Context 15 1.5 Summary 20 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework 25 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2. Social Control Theory 25 2.3 Differential Association Theory 27 2.4 Social Network Perspective 30 2.5 Interactional Theory 35 2.5.1 Developmental Aspect of Interactional Theory 36 2.6 Expectations 38 Chapter Three: Data and Measures 43 3.1 Adolescent Health Survey 43 3.1.1 In-School Interviews 44 3.1.2 In-Home Interviews 45 3.1.3 Other Data Components 46 3.2 Project Limitations 47 3.3 Key Measures 48 3.3.1 Dependent Variable 48 V This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 3.3.2 Independent Variables 49 3.3.2.1 Egocentric Network Measures 49 3.3.2.2 School Characteristics 56 Chapter Four: Overall Delinquency Involvement 71 4.1 Introduction 71 4.2 Sociograms 72 4.3 Descriptive Analyses (Differences in Means) 74 ' 4.4 Mu1tivari ate Analyses 76 4.4.1 Poisson Distribution 76 4.4.2 Analytic Technique (Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models) 78 4.4.3 Delinquency-Peer Group Association 81 4.4.4 Network Characteristics 82 4.4.5 School Context 86 4.5 Summary of Results 89 Chapter Five: Violent versus Property Delinquency 106 5.1 Introduction 106 5.2 Dual Dimensionality of Delinquency 107 5.3 Descriptive Results: Comparison of Different Types of Delinquent Involvement 108 5.4 Multivariate Results 110 5.4.1 Delinquency-Peer Group Association: Violent and Property Delinquency 111 5.4.2 Network Characteristics: Violent and Property Delinquency 111 5.4.3 School Context 115 5.4.4 Control Variables 117 5.5. Summary 119 Chapter Six: Developmental Changes: Age Invariant Effects? 134 6.1 Introduction 134 6.2 Descriptive Results 135 vi This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 6.3 Multivariate Results 136 6.3.1 Delinquency-Peer Group Association: Early, Middle, and Late Adolescence 137 6.3.2 Network Characteristics: Early, Middle, and Late Adolescence 139 6.3.3 School Context: Early, Middle, and Late Adolescence 142 6.4 Summary 145 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 169 7.1 Summary of Major Findings 169 7.2 Theoretical Implications 175 7.3 Caveats 177 7.4 Policy Implications 179 7.5 Future Research 180 7.5.1 Gender Differences 180 7.5.2 Race Differences 182 7.6 Summary 183 References 184 Appendix A. Characteristics of Three Schools Illustrated by Sociograms 194 Appendix B. Correlation Matrix 195 Appendix C. Factor Solutions for Delinquency Indicators 197 Appendix D. Percent of Respondents by Age Engaging in Different Delinquent Activities 198 LIST OF FIGURES vi i This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.