Childhood peer relationship problems and young people's involvement with deviant peers in adolescence

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Develo pment Study, this article examined the relationship between children's peer relationship problems in middle childhood and their subsequent risk of for ming deviant peer affiliations in adolescence. The analysis proceeded in th ree steps. First, a structural equation model demonstrated a moderate assoc iation between early peer relationship problems and later deviant peer affi liations (r = .27). Second, the model was extended to include a latent vari able measure of early conduct problems. This analysis revealed that when th e confounding effects of concurrently measured conduct problems were taken into account, peer relationship problems in middle childhood were no longer significantly related to young people's choice of deviant peers in adolesc ence. Third, the model was further extended to include lagged variables, pe rmitting an examination of possible reciprocal relationships between early conduct problems and peer relationship problems. Results suggested that bot h early peer relationship problems and adolescent deviant peer involvement are symptomatic of early child behavioral adjustment. The implications of t hese findings for explanations of deviant peer selection are discussed.