Do friendships change behaviors, or do behaviors change friendships? Examining paths of influence in young adolescents' alcohol use

Purpose: This study examined support for models of peer influence, which po stulates that young adolescents whose friends use alcohol will also engage in that behavior, and of peer selection, whereby young adolescents seek out friends whose drinking behavior is similar to their own. Methods: Data for this study are from 1804 adolescents participating in Pro ject Northland, a school- and community-based alcohol use prevention trial. Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a series of models exa mined directions of influence between participant alcohol use and friend dr ug use over three points in Grades 7, 8, and 9. Results: Findings indicated that higher levels of friends' drug use led to increased participant alcohol use. The reverse-order relationship (i.e., gr eater participant involvement in alcohol leading to more drug use among fri ends) was not supported by these data. Finally, best-fitting models support ed the notion that both participants' alcohol use and the alcohol and other drug use of friends were highly stable over time. Conclusions: Similarity in drinking behavior among adolescent friends may b e more related to processes of peer influence than to processes of peer sel ection. Findings support the utility of alcohol use prevention programs tha t equip younger teens with skills to resist peer influences to use alcohol. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1999.