scholarly journals The Moderating Effect of Prosocial Peers on the Relationships Between Peer Delinquency, Neutralization, and Violent Offending

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Peer Influence ◽  
Current Investigation ◽  
Peer Delinquency ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Violent Offending ◽  
Influence Effect ◽  
Peer Associations ◽  
Delinquent Peer ◽  
Prosocial Peers ◽  
And Training

The goal of the current investigation was to determine whether prosocial peer associations can serve as protective factors by interacting with key components of the peer influence effect. A moderated mediation analysis performed on 2,474 youth (52% female) from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) study (mean age = 12.13 years) revealed that Wave 2 prosocial peer associations moderated the peer delinquency–neutralization relationship. Alternately, Wave 3 prosocial peer associations moderated the neutralization–violent offending relationship. Hence, neutralization beliefs were disproportionately weaker in participants with fewer delinquent peer associations and more prosocial peer associations, whereas the effect of neutralization on delinquency was attenuated, though not eliminated, by strong prosocial peer associations. These results suggest that prosocial peer associations may serve a protective function at different points in the peer influence sequence and that they may be more than simply the converse of peer delinquency.

Proactive Criminal Thinking and Deviant Identity as Mediators of the Peer Influence Effect

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Peer Influence ◽  
Criminal Thinking ◽  
Major Pathway ◽  
Peer Delinquency ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
Youth Survey ◽  
Influence Effect ◽  
Peer Associations ◽  
Delinquent Peer ◽  
Moral Model

The purpose of this study was to test the moral model of criminal lifestyle development with data from the 1,725-member (918 boys and 807 girls) National Youth Survey. It was hypothesized that peer delinquency would predict proactive criminal thinking but not deviant identity as part of a four-variable chain running from peer delinquency to participant delinquency. Consistent with this hypothesis, the pathway running from peer delinquency to proactive criminal thinking to deviant identity to participant delinquency was significant but the pathway running from peer delinquency to deviant identity to proactive criminal thinking to participant delinquency was not. Deviant identity nonetheless predicted proactive criminal thinking and delinquency. These results support a major pathway in the moral model and indicate that while deviant identity plays a role in antisocial development, it is as a cause and effect of proactive criminal thinking rather than as an effect of delinquent peer associations.

Viewing the Cycle of Violence Through a Gendered Pathways Lens: Perceived Parental Tolerance of Violence, Peer Influence, and Child Aggressive Behavior

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2189-2209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Peer Influence ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Parental Attitudes ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cycle Of Violence ◽  
Peer Violence ◽  
Violent Offending ◽  
Influence Effect ◽  
Parental Tolerance

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a child’s perception of adult tolerance of violence interfaced with peer associations and violent offending. It was hypothesized that a child’s perception of his or her parents’ tolerance for violence would predict the peer influence effect for aggressive behavior in boys but not girls. Control variables included the parent’s stated tolerance of violence, the child’s personal attitude toward violence, recent parental divorce or separation, and child maltreatment within the past 12 months. Using the first three waves of the National Youth Survey (NYS), the relationships between perceived parental tolerance of violence and the peer influence and selection effects were examined. A negative binomial path analysis of the male subsample ( n = 736) revealed that perceived parental tolerance of violence predicted the peer influence effect (peer violence leading to participant violent offending) but not the peer selection effect (participant violent offending leading to peer violence) in boys. In girls ( n = 679), neither pathway was significant. The current findings indicate that in boys, perceived parental attitudes toward violence help account for the cycle of violence, perhaps by encouraging the child’s association with violent peers. Programs designed to change these perceptions and the parental/community attitudes these perceptions may reflect could be an effective means of intervention for violent youth.

Positive Parents and Negative Peers: Assessing the Nature and Order of Caregiver and Friend Effects in Predicting Early Delinquency

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Peer Effects ◽  
Parental Support ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Early Adolescent ◽  
Peer Delinquency ◽  
The Monte Carlo Method ◽  
Peer Associations ◽  
Gang Affiliation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Training

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nature and direction of the relationship between parenting and peer effects in predicting early delinquency. The parenting–peer relationship was evaluated in 1,734 (811 male, 923 female) early adolescent members (mean age = 12.10 years) of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) study. A seven-equation path analysis was performed across three waves of data. The statistical significance of 16 indirect effects was evaluated using the Monte Carlo Method for Assessing Mediation. Two of the three pathways predicted to be significant were, in fact, significant (i.e., parental support to gang affiliation to participant delinquency; parental support to peer delinquency to participant delinquency), and all 13 pathways projected to be nonsignificant were, in fact, nonsignificant. Consistent with the research hypothesis for this study, prior parental support acted as a buffer against the delinquency-promoting effects of negative peer associations in early adolescent children.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Mechanisms Linking Perceived Racial Discrimination to Aggressive Delinquency among North American Indigenous Youth

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 694-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dane Hautala ◽  
Kelley Sittner
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
North American ◽  
Indigenous Youth ◽  
Peer Associations ◽  
School Bonds ◽  
Delinquent Peer ◽  
Perceived Racial Discrimination

Objectives: Drawing from an integrated general strain theory framework, the purpose of the study is to examine the longitudinal mediating and moderating mechanisms linking perceived racial discrimination with aggressive delinquency among North American Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth. Method: Data come from an eight-year longitudinal study of Indigenous youth residing on reservations/reserves in the upper Midwest and Canada ( N = 659). Scales were created for discrimination, depressive symptoms, school bonds, and delinquent peer associations at years 2 and 3, and a count measure of aggression was created at years 2, 3, and 5. Cross-lagged path analysis models were estimated to examine possible mediating effects of depressive symptoms, school bonds, and delinquent peer associations. Separate regression models were examined to test for possible moderating effects of the aforementioned variables. Results: The results of a longitudinal path analysis model showed that discrimination indirectly increased aggression through decreased school bonds and increased delinquent peer associations. Depressive symptoms was the only significant moderator, and contrary to expectations, the effect of discrimination on aggression declined in magnitude as depressive symptoms increased. Conclusions: Discrimination is a key criminogenic stressor among Indigenous youth and is linked with multiple adverse outcomes through the adolescent years.

The Sibling Effect for Delinquency: Mediation by Proactive Criminal Thinking and Moderation by Age

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 265-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Peer Influence ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Early Adolescent ◽  
Criminal Thinking ◽  
Causal Mediation ◽  
Influence Effect ◽  
Causal Mediation Analysis ◽  
Significant Pathway ◽  
At Home

This study tested whether the sibling delinquency effect, like the peer influence effect, is mediated by proactive (planned, calculated, and amoral) criminal thinking. Youth who completed the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) and had a sibling living at home were divided into an early adolescent subsample ( n = 795) and a mid-adolescent subsample ( n = 532) after it was determined that age moderated the effect of sibling delinquency on proactive criminal thinking and serious offending. The results of a causal mediation analysis revealed a significant pathway running from sibling delinquency at Wave 1, to proactive criminal thinking at Wave 2, to serious offending at Wave 3, but only in the early adolescent subsample. These results suggest that the sibling delinquency effect may be the result of learning proactive criminal thinking in association with a delinquent sibling while still an early adolescent.

scholarly journals Peer influence in adolescent drinking behavior: A meta-analysis of stochastic actor-based modeling studies

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250169
Author(s):  
Valeria Ivaniushina ◽  
Vera Titkova
Keyword(s):  
Peer Influence ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Drinking Behavior ◽  
Selection Effect ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Peer Selection ◽  
Influence Effect ◽  
Log Odds

Objectives To measure the effects of peer influence and peer selection on drinking behavior in adolescence through a rigorous statistical approach designed to unravel these interrelated processes. Methods We conducted systematic searches of electronic databases, thesis collections and conference proceedings to identify studies that used longitudinal network design and stochastic actor-oriented modeling to analyze drinking behavior in adolescents. Parameter estimates collected from individual studies were analyzed using multilevel random-effects models. Results We identified 26 articles eligible for meta-analysis. Meta-analyses for different specifications of the peer influence effect were conducted separately. The peer influence effect was positive for every specification: for average similarity (avSim) mean log odds ratio was 1.27 with 95% confidence interval [0.04; 2.49]; for total similarity (totSim) 0.46 (95% CI = [0.44; 0.48]), and for average alter (avAlt) 0.70 (95% CI = [-0.01; 1.41]). The peer selection effect (simX) was also positive: 0.46 (95% CI = [0.28; 0.63]). Conversion log odds ratio values to Cohen’s d gives estimates from 0.25 to 0.70, which is considered as medium to large effect. Conclusions Advances in methodology for social network analysis have made it possible to accurately estimate peer influence effects free from peer selection effects. More research is necessary to clarify the roles of age, gender, and individual susceptibility on the changing behavior of adolescents under the influence of their peers. Understanding the effects of peer influence should inform practitioners and policy makers to design and deliver more effective prevention programs.

Assessing the Violent Offending and Violent Victimization Overlap Among a Sample of Chinese Youth and Young Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Wang ◽  
Hyunjung Cheon ◽  
Laura Beckman
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Peer Delinquency ◽  
Chinese Youth ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Role Differentiation ◽  
Violent Offending ◽  
Youth And Young Adults ◽  
Multilevel Item Response Theory ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data

Although an increasing number of studies have examined offending and victimization in China, little is known about the extent of the victim–offender overlap and what factors may explain differential tendencies toward offending versus victimization in the Chinese context. To fill this gap and to broaden the empirical base of the current literature on the victim–offender overlap, we examine the association of a number of prominent theoretical constructs with overall violent encounters and role differentiation. Using data collected from over 2,000 students from six schools in Changzhi, a city in Northern China, and multilevel item response theory modeling, we find a nontrivial overlap between violent offending and victimization and differential tendencies toward offending versus victimization. We also find that most of our theoretical constructs are associated with overall violent encounters, but only moral beliefs, peer delinquency, drinking, and gender are related to role differentiation. Findings for theory and research are discussed.

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