Parents and Peers as Social Influences to Deter Antisocial Behavior

Growth curve analyses were used to investigate parents’ and peers’ influence on adolescents’ choice to abstain from antisocial behavior in a community-based sample of 416 early adolescents living in the Southeastern United States. Participants were primarily European American (91%) and 51% were girls. Both parents and peers were important influences on the choice to abstain from antisocial behavior. Over the four-year period adolescents relied increasingly on parents as influences and relied less on peers as influences to deter antisocial behavior. Significant gender differences emerged and suggested that female adolescents relied more on social influences than did male adolescents but that as time progressed male adolescents increased the rate at which they relied on peers. Higher family income was associated with choosing peers as a social influence at wave 1, but no other significant income associations were found. Understanding influences on adolescents’ abstinence choices is important for preventing antisocial behavior.

Emily C. CookEmail:

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Emily C. Cook   is in her final year of doctoral studies in human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research interests include peer influences and parental influences on adolescents’ problem behaviors, parental influences on adolescents’ social development, and effective prevention and interventions for adolescents who exhibit problem behaviors. Cheryl Buehler   is a professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research interests include marital conflict, marital relations, parenting, and adolescent well-being. Robert Henson   is an assistant professor of educational research methodology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Henson’s research interests include educational measurement, cognitive diagnosis models, hierarchical linear models, and mathematical statistics.