Abstract
AIMS: We investigated whether (1) adolescents selected friends with a similar socio-economic status (SES), (2) smoking and alcohol consumption spread in networks and (3) the exclusion of non-smokers or non-drinkers differed between SES groups.
DESIGN: This was a longitudinal study using stochastic actor-oriented models to analyze complete social network data over three waves.
SETTING: Eight Hungarian secondary schools with socio-economically diverse classes took part.
PARTICIPANTS: This study comprised 232 adolescents aged between 14 and 15 years in the first wave.
MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported smoking behavior, alcohol consumption behavior and friendship ties were measured. SES was measured based upon entitlement to an income-tested regular child protection benefit.
FINDINGS: Non-low-SES adolescents were most likely to form friendships with peers from their own SES group [odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.11]. Adolescents adjusted their smoking behavior (OR = 24.05, 95% CI = 1.27-454.86) but not their alcohol consumption (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 0.62-4.39) to follow the behavior of their friends. Smokers did not differ from non-smokers in the likelihood of receiving a friendship nomination (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.87-1.10), regardless of their SES. Alcohol consumers received significantly more friendship nominations than non-consumers (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.01-1.33), but this association was not significantly different according to SES.
CONCLUSIONS: Hungarian adolescents appear to prefer friendships within their own socio-economic status group, and smoking and alcohol consumption spread within those friendship networks. Socio-economic groups do not differ in the extent to which they encourage smoking or alcohol consumption.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 488-498 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Addiction |
Volume | 119 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 22 Nov 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.