Peers and Homophobic Attitudes in Adolescence: Examining Selection and Influence Processes in Friendships and Antipathies

Roi, Chaïm la; Dijkstra, Jan Kornelis; Kretschmer, Tina; Savickaitė, Rūta; Veenstra, René

doi:10.1007/s10964-020-01298-8

Cited by 8 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…They found that friends significantly influenced each other’s attitudes over the 2-year study so that friends’ attitudes became more similar over time. Similar studies of friendship networks have provided evidence for the socialization of anti-immigrant sentiment (Hjerm et al, 2018), homophobic attitudes (la Roi et al, 2020; Poteat, 2007), and attitudes toward ethnic minorities (Zingora et al, 2020).…”

Section: How Friends Influence Individuals’ Outgroup Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Disentangling contact and socialization effects on outgroup attitudes in diverse friendship networks.

Bracegirdle¹,

Reimer²,

Zalk³

et al. 2022

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Friendships with members of our own group (ingroup) and other groups (outgroups) shape our attitudes towards outgroups. Research on intergroup contact has shown that the numbers of outgroup and ingroup friends we have influence our outgroup attitudes, while research on socialization has shown that the attitudes held by our friends influence our outgroup attitudes.Past research, however, examined these processes in isolation, which precludes discerning whether having friends, or the attitudes held by our friends, are both important in shaping our outgroup attitudes, and, if so, which is more important. To disentangle these effects, we conducted a five-wave social network study in two ethnically diverse schools (N = 1,170 students). By applying a novel longitudinal co-evolution model, we were able to separate the effects of having ingroup and outgroup friends (contact effects), and the effects of those friends' attitudes (socialization effects), on individuals' outgroup attitudes, while controlling for friendship selection processes. In so doing, we found that it is principally the attitudes of ingroup friends -not outgroup friends' attitudes or having ingroup and outgroup friends alonethat predict individuals' outgroup attitudes. Our findings have important theoretical implications, as we demonstrate that combining the divergent approaches of intergroup contact and socialization enables us to better understand outgroup attitude development. Our findings also have practical implications, as we show that, even in diverse environments, individuals rely primarily on friends from their own group to inform their attitudes towards other groups.

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Section: How Friends Influence Individuals’ Outgroup Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Disentangling contact and socialization effects on outgroup attitudes in diverse friendship networks.

Bracegirdle¹,

Reimer²,

Zalk³

et al. 2022

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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“…Research also has shown that adolescents tend to befriend peers with similar levels of religiosity (Cheadle and Schwadel 2012;Leszczensky and Pink 2020). By contrast, a recent study found no evidence that adolescents befriend peers with similar levels of homophobic attitudes (La Roi et al 2020). Finally, adolescents with ethnic prejudice have been shown to avoid befriending inter-ethnic peers (Binder et al 2009;Stark et al 2013).…”

Section: Attitude and Behavior Homophilymentioning

confidence: 99%

Friendships

Jugert¹,

Leszczensky²

2023

Preprint

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In this chapter, we review what is known about the formation of friendships and friends’ influence in adolescence with a focus on quantitative and social network studies. First, we describe how friendships are defined and measured. Second, we provide an overview of mechanisms of friendship formation. In the remainder of the chapter, we summarize research findings on the formation of friendships, the development and stability of friendships, on how socio-cultural context affects friendships, and on the influence of friendships.

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“…Peer influence is a social process by which a focal individual's behavior or attitudes are affected by peers acting as reference points for the individual within social networks (Montgomery et al, 2020;. Whether it is due to peer influence or selection homophily processes (the tendency for individuals to form friendships with others of similar characteristics and behaviors (Krupka et al, 2016;), research shows that adolescent smokers usually have more smoking friends, whilst non-smokers have more non-smoking friends (Liu et al, 2017;. This correlation between an individual's smoking and the smoking behaviors of their peers has been shown to differ according to cultural characteristics (i.e., to be stronger for adolescent samples drawn from collectivistic, versus individualistic, cultures) (Liu et al, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper aims to explore the behavioral mechanisms underlying the influence of social norms on adolescent smoking and vaping by examining whether changes in the experimentally elicited norms measures over time are correlated amongst friendship cliques, and broadly within the larger school community (e.g., school classes and school year groups). Our statistical approach draws upon the work of Krupka et al (2016), who studied selection homophily and peer influence effects for university freshmen's economic preferences (and related self-report outcomes), and our study's power calculation was also based on the work of Krupka et al, to detect changes in these effects (Hunter et al, 2020). Specifically, we examine selection homophily processes using mixed-effects logistic regressions to investigate whether similarity with another pupil on the smoking and vaping outcomes increases the likelihood of nominating them as a friend (objective 1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subgroup analyses also showed that the proportion of pupils who changed their norms to be "against smoking" was higher for ASSIST schools compared to Dead Cool (Montes et al, 2023). The current paper adds to our previous work by providing a broader overview of selection homophily and peer influence for our experimental smoking and vaping norms measures (in terms of pupils' observed scores on the scales, and individual 'norms' items), comparing statistical methods used to address these questions in behavioral economics (regression, e.g., Krupka et al, 2016) and network sciences (SIENA, e.g., Mercken et al, 2012), examining peer influence from proximal (e.g., nominated friends) versus distal (e.g., school classes and school year groups) peers, and also examining selection homophily and peer influence for our study's other (self-report) smoking outcomes and objectively measured smoking behavior.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Selection homophily and peer influence for adolescents’ smoking and vaping norms and outcomes in high and middle-income settings

Murray,

Sánchez-Franco,

Sarmiento

et al. 2023

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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The MECHANISMS study investigates how social norms for adolescent smoking and vaping are transmitted through school friendship networks, and is the first study to use behavioral economics methodology to assess smoking-related social norms. Here, we investigate the effects of selection homophily (the tendency to form friendships with similar peers) and peer influence (a social process whereby an individual’s behavior or attitudes are affected by peers acting as reference points for the individual) on experimentally measured smoking and vaping norms, and other smoking outcomes, in adolescents from high and middle-income settings. Full school year groups in six secondary schools in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) and six secondary schools in Bogotá (Colombia) participated (n = 1344/1444, participation = 93.1%, target age 12–13 years). Over one semester, pupils received one previously tested school-based smoking prevention program (ASSIST or Dead Cool). Outcomes included experimentally measured smoking/vaping norms, self-report and objectively measured smoking behavior, and self-report smoking norms, intentions, susceptibility, attitudes, and psycho-social antecedents. We investigated selection homophily and peer influence using regressions and SIENA modeling. Regression results demonstrate lagged and contemporaneous selection homophily (odds ratios [ORs] = 0.87–1.26, p ≤ 0.01), and peer influence effects for various outcomes from average responses of friends, school classes, or school year groups (standardized coefficients [βs] = 0.07–0.55, ORs = 1.14–1.31, p ≤ 0.01). SIENA models showed that comparable proportions of smoking/vaping-based similarity between friends were due to selection homophily (32.8%) and peer influence (39.2%). A higher percentage of similarity between friends was due to selection homophily and/or peer influence for ASSIST schools compared to Dead Cool. Selection homophily was also more important in Bogotá, whilst peer influence was stronger in Northern Ireland. These findings support using social norms strategies in adolescent smoking prevention interventions. Future research should consider selection homophily and social influence jointly, and examine whether these findings translate to other high and low-middle-income settings with varying cultures and norms.

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Peers and Homophobic Attitudes in Adolescence: Examining Selection and Influence Processes in Friendships and Antipathies

Cited by 8 publications

References 62 publications

Disentangling contact and socialization effects on outgroup attitudes in diverse friendship networks.

Disentangling contact and socialization effects on outgroup attitudes in diverse friendship networks.

Friendships

Selection homophily and peer influence for adolescents’ smoking and vaping norms and outcomes in high and middle-income settings

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