Adolescents’ and Their Friends’ Health-Risk Behavior: Factors That Alter or add to Peer Influence

The authors examined models of risk for adolescent health-risk behavior, including family dysfunction, social acceptance, & depression as factors that may compound or mitigate the associations between adolescents’ & peers’ risk behaviors. Adolescents’ substance use, violence & suicidal behavior were related to their friends’ substance use, deviance, & suicidal behaviors, respecitvely. Results supported both additive & multiplicative models of risk. Implications for intervention & prevention are discussed. (43 refs)