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Peer influences on risk behavior: a network study of social influence among adolescents in Flemish secondary schools
Unformatted Document Text:  Peer influences on adolescent risk behavior: a network  analysis of social influence processes among  adolescents in Flemish secondary schools Hans Berten  Ghent University Abstract Studies in adolescent risk behavior literature have since long suggested that peers  influence ones behavior. Most research in this tradition  has studied peer influence in terms of  friendship relations. In this paper an alternative mechanism of influence is tested, based on  actors’ similar positions in the peer network. A network effects model is used to test both  influence mechanisms in a representative sample of Flemish adolescents in secondary schools  (N=11 837),  clustered in about 160 networks.  Each network was analyzed separately and  afterwards a meta-analysis was conducted. Results indicate that peers not only are influenced by  their best friends, but also by peers in structurally similar positions. Peers are more influential in  5 th  grade than in 3 rd  grade and peer influence is stronger for substance use than for sexual risk  behavior. Influence by cohesion is somewhat stronger than influence by structural equivalence,  although an interaction effect was found with grade.  Implications of these findings are  discussed for health and risk behavior studies.

Authors: Berten, Hans.
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background image
Peer influences on adolescent risk behavior: a network 
analysis of social influence processes among 
adolescents in Flemish secondary schools
Hans Berten 
Ghent University
Abstract
Studies in adolescent risk behavior literature have since long suggested that peers 
influence ones behavior. Most research in this tradition  has studied peer influence in terms of 
friendship relations. In this paper an alternative mechanism of influence is tested, based on 
actors’ similar positions in the peer network. A network effects model is used to test both 
influence mechanisms in a representative sample of Flemish adolescents in secondary schools 
(N=11 837),  clustered in about 160 networks.  Each network was analyzed separately and 
afterwards a meta-analysis was conducted. Results indicate that peers not only are influenced by 
their best friends, but also by peers in structurally similar positions. Peers are more influential in 
5
th
 grade than in 3
rd
 grade and peer influence is stronger for substance use than for sexual risk 
behavior. Influence by cohesion is somewhat stronger than influence by structural equivalence, 
although an interaction effect was found with grade.  Implications of these findings are 
discussed for health and risk behavior studies.


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