Risk factors - peer influence Flashcards
Peer Influences
Peer Pressure
Peer influence can be the result of direct or indirect encouragement to engage in potentially risky and addictive behaviours.
Peer pressure is often given as a reason why adolescents engage in behaviours such as smoking or substance abuse.
Social Identity Theory
(Tajfel and Turner, 1986
Di Blasio and Benda (1993) found peer group influences to be the primary influence for adolescents who experiment with smoking. Adolescents who smoked were more likely to ‘hang out’ with other adolescents who also smoked.
Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1986) explains why individuals are likely to be influenced by peer pressure.
It suggests that a significant part of an individual’s self-concept is formed as a result of the groups of which they are a part of (the ‘in-groups’) - self-esteem becomes bound up with group membership.
As it is essential to be associated with the in-group in order to be socially accepted, this makes individuals more likely to adopt behaviours that have become the norm in the group e.g. smoking, thus individuals adopt the identity of the group they have categorised themselves as belonging to.
Peer Influences
Social Networks
Research on the emergence of risky behaviour and the subsequent development of addictive behaviour has focused on the importance of peer networks – the idea that social networks often consist of individuals with similar habits.
For example, among adolescents, smokers tend to be friends with smokers, and non-smokers are often friends with other non-smokers (Eiser et al., 1991).
Therefore, individual substance use may develop because of the prevalence of substance use within a particular social network.
Peer Influences
Social Networks
(Research support)
Research support: Latkin et al. (2004) found that the probability of drug abuse was related to the number of members within an individual’s social network who used drugs.
By modelling behaviours such as alcohol use, members of social networks represent such behaviours as positive and socially acceptable (Kinard and Webster, 2011).
P: There is research evidence demonstrating the indirect influence of peers on addictive behaviour through social media.
E: Litt and Stock (2011) found that teenagers who were exposed to Facebook profiles of their peers portraying alcohol use, reported….
a greater willingness to use alcohol
more positive feelings towards it
lower perceptions of negative consequences.
C: This therefore suggests that exposure to peer attitudes through social media alters adolescents perceptions of alcohol.
P: However, it is difficult to establish causality in relation to the influence of peers. As the research is mainly correlational, it is possible that choice of peer group is influenced by addiction i.e. an addict chooses a peer group that allows them easy access to the focus of their addiction.
E: This is supported by Bullers et al. (2001) who found that selection of peer group followed addiction in many cases and that social influence had less of an effect.
C: This suggests that similarity in behaviours such as smoking may be a consequence of friendship selection, i.e. smokers befriend smokers, rather than smokers influence non-smokers to take up the habit (DeVries et al., 2006)
P: Peer influences may be overstated and are just one of many social factors influencing addiction; factors such as economic and social deprivation should be considered when assessing levels of vulnerability to dependency.
E: Kobus (2003) reviewed the literature on social influences and suggested that the effect of peer influence is more subtle and that media, family and neighbourhood were also involved.
C: This suggests that peers are not as strong an influence as some research would suggest. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which the link between peer behaviour and likelihood of addiction is causal or a result of peer selection.
P: The influence of peers is likely to change with age.
E: Rich-Harris (1998) states that peer influence increases during adolescence and so substance use in young adults is more likely to be influenced by peers than parents.
C: However, because of the shifting nature of parental and peer influence over time, it is difficult to gauge the exact contribution of family and peers to the development of addiction.
