Social Status of Adolescents With an Early Onset of Externalizing Behavior: The SNARE Study

Abstract

This study investigated the social status (i.e., popularity, likeability, and friendships) of adolescents with an early onset of externalizing behavior (i.e., alcohol use, tobacco use, and antisocial behavior). Building on Moffitt's dual-taxonomy model, it was hypothesized that early onset adolescents were more popular, but not necessarily more liked or with more friends. Hypotheses were tested using data from the Social Network Analysis of Risk Behaviors in Early Adolescence (SNARE) study (N = 1,100, 50% boys, X age = 12.7, SD = 0.47 years). Findings indicated that adolescents with an early onset of one or more externalizing behaviors were more popular, less liked, and had as many friends as their peers. These findings suggest that early onset adolescents potentially function as role models.

Changing routine activities and the decline of youth crime: A repeated cross‐sectional analysis of self‐reported delinquency in Sweden, 1999–2017*

“…Thus, the declining trend in alcohol consumption clearly is a potential factor in the decline of delinquency if one accepts its causal role. One may argue whether alcohol consumption should be seen as an explanatory variable of delinquency or rather as a facet of delinquency as it is a status offense for adolescents in some countries (e.g., Boisvert et al., 2019; Franken et al., 2016). In Sweden, alcohol consumption is prohibited for adolescents but not sanctioned.…”

Social network isolation mediates associations between risky symptoms and substance use in the high school transition

“…Moreover, research consistently finds positive linkages between aggressive behavior and social status: popularity escalates aggression, which may in turn boosts prestige (Faris, 2012; Faris & Felmlee, 2011; Stoltz, Cillessen, van den Berg, & Gommans, 2016). More generally, research suggests that externalizing behaviors, particularly at early ages, are associated with higher social status (Franken, Harakeh, Veenstra, Vollebergh, & Dijkstra, 2017; Mayeux, Sandstrom, & Cillessen, 2008). For this reason, we anticipate that low social integration as an indicator of local fragmented friendships will mediate pathways from risky symptoms (both depressive symptoms and deviant behavior) to substance use.…”

Adolescents’ Friendships, Academic Achievement, and Risk Behaviors: Same‐Behavior and Cross‐Behavior Selection and Influence Processes

“…Partially the same data (the same eighth‐grade students) have been used to test developmental differences between school years in selection and influence processes with regard to average and cluster‐specific academic achievement (Gremmen et al., ). Other studies with Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence (SNARE) data used different subsamples to study the role of parents (Dijkstra et al., ), status (Franken et al., ), self‐control (Franken, Moffitt, et al., ), and biological maturation (Franken, Prinstein, et al., ) in friendship and externalizing behavior dynamics.…”

“…Delinquent behaviors and experimentation with alcohol are salient risk factors in early adolescence and considered normative (Franken et al., ; Moffitt, ). Risk‐behaving adolescents get rewarded by their peers in this time period by obtaining a high social status (Franken, Harakeh, Veenstra, Vollebergh, & Dijkstra, ). As risk behaviors develop in the peer context, it is important to examine the role of friends in these behaviors (Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, ; Osgood, Feinberg, & Ragan, ).…”