Emerging Adults’ Self-Identified Peer Crowd Affiliations, Risk Behavior, and Social–Emotional Adjustment in College

Abstract

Although peer crowd affiliations have been studied extensively in adolescence, less is known about the crowd structure of emerging adults. The current study tested whether college students' self-reported crowd affiliations were uniquely associated with a broad range of adjustment indices. Participants were 588 emerging adults at a small liberal arts college in the Western United States (M age ¼ 20.07, SD ¼ 1.34; range ¼ 18-26; 411 women). Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the peer crowds examined were best described by four underlying crowd dimensions (i.e., social, athletic, scholastic, and counterculture). Regression analyses showed that scholastic and athletic affiliations predicted social-emotional adjustment and low-risk-related behaviors. Social and counterculture identification predicted risk-related behaviors. However, while social affiliation predicted social-emotional adjustment, affiliation with the counterculture crowd predicted high levels of loneliness and low belongingness. The results highlight the importance of crowd affiliations in emerging adulthood and their implications for college students' adjustment.

The Impact of Isolation Measures Due to COVID-19 on Energy Intake and Physical Activity Levels in Australian University Students

“…Whilst effective for containing outbreaks, disrupted habits involving strict isolation measures can adversely affect both physical and mental health, with potentially exacerbated effects among young adults who rely upon positive peer interactions for their general wellbeing [ 4 , 5 ]. Likely consequences of home isolation are changes to eating and physical activity behaviours.…”

Patterns of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Substance Use Among Young Adult Peer Crowds

“…Research has found that identification with peer crowds is common among young adults 25 and continues to have significant associations with risk behaviors and indicators of emotional well-being. 26,27 Much work in this area has been done among college students. 5,25,28,29 Kuh and colleagues 30 describe typologies of college students based on factors, such as involvement in academics, sports/recreation, arts/music, and social activities.…”

“…5,25,28,29 Kuh and colleagues 30 describe typologies of college students based on factors, such as involvement in academics, sports/recreation, arts/music, and social activities. Hopmeyer et al 26,31 extended this line of work by developing the College Peer Crowd Questionnaire and identified four broad crowds: social, counterculture (akin to alternative), scholastic (akin to academics), and athletic (akin to jocks).…”

“…Regional studies have found that associations between peer crowd identification and risk behavior among young adults largely mirror those found among adolescents. 3,26,27,31 Lisha and colleagues 3 surveyed young adult bar patrons in California, and found that identifying as hip hop was associated with an increased likelihood of cigarette, e-cigarette, and cigar use, whereas identification with the young professional crowd (akin to the academic crowd in adolescents) was associated with a decreased likelihood of tobacco use. 3 Akin to the academic crowd in adolescents, the young professional crowd prioritizes their careers and is less trend sensitive than the social/partier crowd.…”

Commuter College Student Adjustment: Peer Crowd Affiliation as a Driver of Loneliness, Belongingness, and Risk Behaviors

“…Peer crowd affiliation was measured using a modified, 19-item version of the College Peer Crowd Questionnaire (Hopmeyer & Medovoy, 2016; based on La Greca, Prinstein, & Fetter, 2001), which was adapted to reflect the school-specific peer crowds that were uncovered during the focus group portion of the procedure. An example item is: “How strongly do you affiliate with the ravers at this university?” For each item, students were also provided with a short description of the crowd.…”