TITLE:
The role of drinking in new and existing friendships across high school settings
AUTHORS:
Jacob E. Cheadle, Deadric Williams
KEYWORDS:
Adolescent; Alcohol Use; Drinking; Teen; Social Network; Friends; Friendship
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.6C,
June
20,
2013
ABSTRACT: We use 9 Add Health high schools with longitudinal
network data to assess whether adolescent drinkers choose friends who drink,
prefer friends whose friends drink, if selection differs between new and
existing friendships, and between schools. Utilizing dynamic social network
models that control for friend influences on individual alcohol use, the
results show that drinkers do not strongly prefer friends who drink. Instead,
they favor close friends whose friends’ drink, suggesting that alcohol matters
for selection on the social groups and environments that friends connect each
other to. The role of alcohol use differs by whether friendships are new or
existing, however, with bridging connections being less stable. Moreover, selection processes, and the implications
of alcohol use for friendship, vary in important ways between schools.