Friday, September 18, 2015

Changing Friend Selection in Middle School: A Social Network Analysis of a Randomized Intervention Study Designed to Prevent Adolescent Problem Behavior

Adolescent friendships that promote problem behavior are often chosen in middle school. The current study examines the unintended impact of a randomized school-based intervention on the selection of friends in middle school, as well as on observations of deviant talk with friends 5 years later. 

Participants included 998 middle school students (526 boys and 472 girls) recruited at the onset of middle school (age 11-12 years) from three public middle schools participating in the Family Check-up model intervention. The current study focuses only on the effects of the SHAPe curriculum-one level of the Family Check-up model-on friendship choices. Participants nominated friends and completed measures of deviant peer affiliation. Approximately half of the sample (n = 500) was randomly assigned to the intervention, and the other half (n = 498) comprised the control group within each school. 

The results indicate that the SHAPe curriculum affected friend selection within school 1 but not within schools 2 or 3. The effects of friend selection in school 1 translated into reductions in observed deviancy training 5 years later (age 16-17 years). 

By coupling longitudinal social network analysis with a randomized intervention study, the current findings provide initial evidence that a randomized public middle school intervention can disrupt the formation of deviant peer groups and diminish levels of adolescent deviance 5 years later.

Via: http://ht.ly/SpiTI

By: DeLay D1Ha T2Van Ryzin M3Winter C4Dishion TJ5.
  • 1T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, PO Box 873701, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
  • 2Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR), Arizona State University, 550 E. Orange St., Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
  • 3Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Dr., Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.
  • 4University of Oregon, 1585 E 13th Ave, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.
  • 5REACH Institute, Arizona State University, PO Box 876005, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
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