Application of a New Model of Peer Group Influence to Naturally Existing Adolescent Friendship Groups

Abstract

SIMAN, MICHAEL L. Application of a New Model of Peer Group Influence to Naturally Existing Adolescent Friendship Groups. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 270-274. A new model of the peer group influence process was proposed and tested using questionnaire responses from 41 naturally existing adolescent cliques representing males and females in grades 6 through 12. The new model utilized 2 group components: 1 that recognized a trend toward homogeneity of behavior for all members of a particular clique and a second that recognized the existence of diversity in the behavior of individual group members by measuring peer group influence in terms of the deviation of individual behavior from the group norm. This group component model did as well as the more traditional approach utilizing individual (nongroup) components in predicting the frequency of adolescent behavior and was a significantly better predictor of antisocial behavior items than was the traditional approach. This was interpreted as indicating support for the view of the peer group as a filter through which parent norms must pass in order to make them more meaningful to the individual group members.