Reconsidering Peers and Delinquency: How do Peers Matter?
2005/12/01 by D. L. Haynie, Denise L. Haynie, D. W. Osgood +1 · 753 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Computer science #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Crime, Deviance, and Social Control #Criminology #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Juvenile delinquency #Media studies #Psychology #Sociology #State (computer science)
paper · doi:10.1353/sof.2006.0018
published in Social Forces 84(2), 1109-1130 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2005/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract
This paper examines the contribution of peer relations to delinquency from the perspective of two sociological traditions: socialization/normative influence and opportunity. Earlier studies have likely overestimated normative influence by relying on respondents' reports about their friends' behaviors rather than obtaining independent assessments and by inadequately controlling for the tendency to select peers who are similar to oneself Using detailed social network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Healthy we find support for both the socialization and opportunity models. Adolescents engage in higher rates of delinquency if they have highly delinquent friends and if they spend a great deal of time in unstructured socializing with friends. Yet our results also indicate that (1) the normative influence of peers on delinquency is more limited than indicated by most previous studies, (2) normative influence is not increased by being more closely attached to friends or spending more time with them, (3) the contribution of opportunity is independent from normative influence and of comparable importance, and (4) influences from the peer domain do not mediate the influences of age, gender, family or school.
Citations
Cited by
- Similarities and differences between perceptions of peer delinquency, peer self-reported delinquency, and respondent delinquency: An analysis of friendship dyads
- Unpacking within- and between-person effects of unstructured socializing and differential association on solo- and co-offending
- The role of peer delinquency and unstructured socializing in explaining delinquency and substance use: A state-of-the-art review
- It's not the time they spend, it's what they do: The interaction between delinquent friends and unstructured routine activity on delinquency
- Do school disciplinary policies have positive social impacts? Examining the attenuating effects of school policies on the relationship between personal and peer delinquency
- Network Effects and Social Inequality
- What do Alternative Measures of Peer Behavior Tell Us? Examining the Discriminant Validity of Multiple Methods of Measuring Peer Deviance and the Implications for Etiological Models
- Opportunity in transit: bus stop crowding and crime
- Suspended by association: Does vicarious suspension increase the odds of adolescent school discipline?
- Affinity, Affiliation, and Guilt: Examining Between- and Within-Person Variability in Delinquent Peer Influence
- Exposure to Situations Conducive to Delinquent Behavior
- The Risk of Informal Socializing with Peers: Considering Gender Differences Across Predatory Delinquency and Substance Use
- The Effects of Charter High Schools on Academic Achievement and College Enrollment: Evidence from Los Angeles
- Unstructured Socializing With Peers and Risk of Substance Use: Where Does the Risk Begin?
- Deterioration of Postincarceration Social Support for Emerging Adults
- Help or Hindrance: Female Probationers’ Navigation of Supervision Requirements Through Personal Support Networks
- Individual Attitudes toward Deviant Behavior and Perceived Attitudes of Friends: Self-stereotyping and Social Projection in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
- The protective impact of immigrant concentration on juvenile recidivism: A statewide analysis of youth offenders
- Social Exclusion and Parental Incarceration Impacts on Adolescents' Networks and School Engagement
- Physical fighting among Egyptian adolescents: social and demographic correlates among a nationally representative sample. [europepmc]
- Outcomes of childhood conduct problem trajectories in early adulthood: findings from the ALSPAC study. [europepmc]
- The role of feared possible selves in the relationship between peer influence and delinquency. [europepmc]
- Aggressive delinquency among north American indigenous adolescents: Trajectories and predictors. [europepmc]
- Deviant Peer Behavior and Adolescent Delinquency: Protective Effects of Inhibitory Control, Planning, or Decision Making? [europepmc]
- The Short-Term Dynamics of Peers and Delinquent Behavior: An Analysis of Bi-weekly Changes Within a High School Student Network. [europepmc]
- Can organized leisure-time activities buffer the negative outcomes of unstructured activities for adolescents' health? [europepmc]
- The Relative Roles of Peer and Parent Predictors in Minor Adolescent Delinquency: Exploring Gender and Adolescent Phase Differences. [europepmc]
- Developmental Changes in Deviant and Violent Behaviors from Early to Late Adolescence: Associations with Parental Monitoring and Peer Deviance. [europepmc]
- Unpacking the Role of Conflict in Peer Relationships: Implications for Peer Deviance and Crime. [europepmc]
- Is the Peer Presence Effect on Heightened Adolescent Risky Decision-Making only Present in Males? [europepmc]
- The "Other Side of The Fence": A Learning- And Control-Based Investigation Of The Relationship Between Deviance And Friendship Quality. [europepmc]
- Physical Fighting and Leisure Activities among Norwegian Adolescents-Investigating Co-occurring Changes from 2015 to 2018. [europepmc]
- Cooperative Learning Effects on Peer Relations and Alcohol Use in Middle School. [europepmc]
- Chaos in Schools and Its Relationship to Adolescent Risk Behaviors. [europepmc]
- Deviant Peer Preferences: A Simplified Approach to Account for Peer Selection Effects. [europepmc]
- Adolescent Deviance and Cyber-Deviance. A Systematic Literature Review. [europepmc]
- Socioeconomic Status, Peer Social Capital, and Quality of Life of High School Students During COVID-19: A Mediation Analysis. [europepmc]
- Patterns of Time Use among 12-Year-Old Children and Their Life Satisfaction: A Gender and Cross-Country Comparison. [europepmc]
- Costs and benefits of cooperative learning as a universal school-based approach to adolescent substance use prevention. [europepmc]
- Association of Attending a High-Performing High School With Substance Use Disorder Rate and Health Outcomes in Young Adults. [europepmc]
- Perceptions of School Climate Shape Adolescent Health Behavior: A Longitudinal Multischool Study. [europepmc]
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Delinquency: A Theoretically Informed Investigation of Mediators during Middle Childhood. [europepmc]
- Adolescent Cannabis Misuse Scale: Longitudinal Associations with Substance Use, Mental Health, and Social Determinants of Health in Early Adulthood. [europepmc]
- The Cascading Effects of Reducing Student Stress: Cooperative Learning as a Means to Reduce Emotional Problems and Promote Academic Engagement. [europepmc]
Related