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Adolescents with Few Friend Alternatives are Particularly Susceptible to Influence from Friends

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Friend influence in adolescence is well-documented, but the characteristics that contribute to individual differences in susceptibility to influence are not well understood. The present study tests the novel hypothesis that within a friend dyad, having fewer friends than one’s partner (i.e., relative lack of alternatives) increases susceptibility to influence as it reduces dissimilarity and thereby promotes compatibility. Drawn from diverse California (USA) public middle schools, participants were 678 adolescents (58% girls) in reciprocated friendships that were stable from the fall to the spring of sixth grade (M = 11.53 years old). Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models assessed peer influence, operationalized as individual change in the direction of increased friend similarity. Consistent with the hypothesis, partners with fewer friends were influenced by partners with relatively more friends in self-reported social anxiety and somatic complaints, as well as teacher-reported academic engagement and prosocial behavior. Academic engagement was the only domain wherein partners with more friends were also influenced by partners with relatively fewer friends. For those with few friends, conformity (i.e., becoming more similar to a partner) can be an important strategy to promote compatibility for strengthening existing friendships.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Sandra Graham (PI of the Project) and the members of the UCLA Middle School Diversity team for their contributions to collection of the data, and all school personnel and participants for their cooperation. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (Grant 1R01HD059882-01A2) and the National Science Foundation (No. 0921306). Brett Laursen and Sharon Faur received support for the preparation of this manuscript from the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD096457).

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (Grant 1R01HD059882-01A2) and the National Science Foundation (No. 0921306). Brett Laursen and Sharon Faur received support for the preparation of this manuscript from the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD096457).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33314, USA

    Sharon Faur & Brett Laursen

  2. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Jaana Juvonen

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  1. Sharon Faur
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  2. Brett Laursen
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  3. Jaana Juvonen
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Contributions

S.F. conceived of the current study, participated in its design, participated in analysis and interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript; B.L. conceived of the current study, participated in its design, participated in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript; J.J. conceived of the current study, participated in its design, and helped to draft the manuscript, and was one of the principal investigators on the larger project from which the present analyses were conducted. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sharon Faur or Brett Laursen.

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This study met established ethical standards and was approved by the University of California, Los Angeles North Campus Institutional Review Board (IRB). All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Faur, S., Laursen, B. & Juvonen, J. Adolescents with Few Friend Alternatives are Particularly Susceptible to Influence from Friends. J Youth Adolescence 52, 637–650 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01718-x

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