Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines how individual variation in deviant peers and resistance to peer influence affects offending from middle adolescence to young adulthood. Results indicate that peer selection (antisocial individuals choosing deviant peers) and socialization (affiliation with peers increasing offending) operate in different developmental periods. From 14 to 15, selection effects are active; from 15 to 20, socialization effects are active. As individuals become increasing resistant to peer influence, the impact of peers on offending disappears, suggesting that interventions that focus on increasing resistance to peer influence may be particularly effective when coupled with interventions that alter a youth’s peer group.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: With recent experimental studies of voting contagion and the usefulness of social pressure, there has been growing attention to the role peer-mobilization plays in turning out the vote. Despite this surge of interest in peer-mobilization and decades of study of party-mobilization, political science has still devoted little study of the role of social network structure in mediating these efforts. In an effort to help close this gap in the literature, this paper examines two questions. First, how do network characteristics shape the probability that actors within that network receive mobilizing appeals? Second, how do network characteristics influence individuals’ probability of turning out to vote when they receive such an appeal? Through the use of social network survey data, this paper examines how real-world networks shape political mobilization, with implications both for scholars of voting behavior and practitioners of GOTV organizing. Moreover, as it examines the political consequences of network characteristics studied more frequently in other fields including local clustering, multiplicity, and foci, this paper seeks to add to the political science toolbox as well as to the literature.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Individuals have struggled to select and implement effective and appropriate trust-building and persuasive techniques as they move from a face to face environment to an online environment. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending is a new online alternative to requesting and receiving loans, providing a natural experiment for examining how language can be used in an online environment to persuade and build trust. We examined how the language in 9,695 loan requests at P2P lending site Prosper.com affected lending behavior. Although borrowers often provide justifications or humanizing personal details these verbal indicators did not increase funding by lenders. Instead, word count, quantifiers and prepositions significantly predicted increased loan success. The results are discussed in terms of Elaboration Likelihood Model and Uncertainty Reduction Theory, and practices on how borrowers can optimize the persuasiveness of self-presentations in these contexts are presented.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to examine the roles of various peer perceptions in predicting college students’ smoking intention and (2) to test how the roles of peer perceptions differ between those who think about different levels of peers (“close peers” vs. “distant peers”). The 4 peer perceptions are drawn from literature on social norm campaigns (descriptive and injunctive norms) and on the Influence of Presumed Influence model (perceived media influence on peers). Analysis of cross-sectional survey data (N=519) finds that injunctive norm and perceived cigarette ad influence on peers seem to be more crucial determinants of college students’ smoking intention. In addition, the roles of the 2 peer perceptions appear significant only for those who thought about “close peers.” The findings suggest that social norm campaigners should pay more attention to correcting misperceived injunctive norm and influence of cigarette advertising on peers rather than to correcting misperceived descriptive norm. Generally, peer perception researchers should use the concept “peer” more carefully. A concept of peers “more similar” and “perceivably closer” should be used to design effective campaign messages and programs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: For more than a decade, peer health education has been a central part of health promotion activities on many U.S. college campuses. Students assume a high level of responsibility, often leading campus-wide health promotion initiatives. Despite this important presence, however, the ways in which students experience their roles as peer health educators—and how effective they believe themselves to be in reaching their fellow students—has been largely overlooked. In an effort to address these questions, this paper presents an ethnographic analysis of a university-based peer health education group, the Peer Listening Line (PLL). Initial research revealed that the PLL, a student-run, confidential helpline, was confronted with several challenges during the past five years that threatened its existence; thus, research questions were considered in this context. This analysis describes how, when faced with adversity, PLL members cultivated three key relationships—with the university administration, the larger student body, and the other members of the group—and, in so doing, were able to redefine and affirm their group identity.