Who Is Really Doing It? Peer Embeddedness and Substance Use During Adolescence

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 15,355), this article examines the relationship between adolescent embeddedness and substance use. Unlike most previous work on substance use, the authors focus on the size of an individual's social network (embeddedness) instead o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological perspectives 2011-03, Vol.54 (1), p.37-58
Main Authors: Kramer, Rory A., Vaquera, Elizabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescents
Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol drinking
Alcoholism
Alcohols
Cigarette smoking
Cigarettes
Consumption
Drinking Behavior
Drug use
Education
Friendship
Health
Longitudinal Studies
Marijuana
Marijuana use
Peer Culture
Peer groups
Peers
Risk
Smoking
Social Capital
Social Networks
Students
Substance Abuse
Substance use
Teenagers
U.S.A
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Summary:Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 15,355), this article examines the relationship between adolescent embeddedness and substance use. Unlike most previous work on substance use, the authors focus on the size of an individual's social network (embeddedness) instead of the characteristics of individuals in that network. They examine four levels of embeddedness (isolated, marginal, typical, and saturated) and the variation in their link to substance use, specifically alcohol consumption, binge drinking, cigarette smoking, and marijuana smoking. Students with high in-school embeddedness were significantly more likely to participate in risk behaviors involving alcohol while students with no in-school embeddedness are protected from risk behaviors by their social isolation. The study then argues for future research in substance use and peer effects that explores the interplay between measures of social capital and embeddedness.
ISSN:0731-1214
1533-8673
DOI:10.1525/sop.2011.54.1.37