Adolescent parties and substance use: A situational approach to peer influence

Purpose: This study takes a situational approach to testing criminogenic peer influence effects on substance use by examining audience characteristics at the last two parties that adolescents attended. We examine the applicability of situational approaches to social learning theory and symbolic interactionist perspectives on criminogenic peer group effects. Methods: Using a sample of adolescents in a large Canadian city, we test the cross-sectional correlates of substance use at parties (n=775) as well as how changes in audience characteristics relate to changes in substance use from one party to the next (n=361). Results: We found that higher levels of substance use are more likely to occur in smaller group settings. But having more friends use alcohol/cannabis and in larger amounts is strongly related to greater personal substance use. Further, it was found that increases in the amount that friends drink/smoke from one party to the next is related to increases in personal substance use. Conclusions: There appears to be little support for a generalized audience effect; what is important is the behavior of peers in specific situations. Findings suggest that integrating a situational audience perspective provides valuable insights into peer influence dynamics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.