DO SUBSTANCE USE AND DELINQUENCY HAVE DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATIONS WITH ADOLESCENTS PEER RELATIONS

Despite their potentially serious short-and long-term risks, developme ntal theorists have argued that risk behaviours may play important con structive roles in adolescent development. The present study hypothesi sed that adolescent substance use, but not delinquency, would be assoc iated with positive peer relations. Subjects were 491 German adolescen ts participating in the Bielefeld Longitudinal Youth Survey who comple ted questionnaires during grades 7, 8, 9, and 10. Measures were adoles cents' self-reported substance use (alcohol, tobacco), delinquency (an tisocial acts), and peer relations (peer involvement frequency, percei ved peer group closeness, perceived position in the peer group, having a boy-or girlfriend). Repeated measures analyses of variance examined gender and school type differences in risk behaviour and peer relatio ns across four occasions. Within-time, peer relations were positively related to substance use and, in a few cases, positively related to de linquency. As hypothesised, substance use predicted increases in the f requency and intensity of peer relations, but delinquency did not do s o consistently. The pattern of results did not differ by gender or sch ool type. The discussion focuses on the meaning of risky behaviours an d differences between substance use and delinquency, and argues that p revention efforts must take seriously the positive functions served by risk behaviours.