Friends' interests: A cluster-analytic study of college student peer environments,personality, and behavior

A 27-item measure was developed to assess college peer environments in terms of friends' interests as perceived by individual students. Four dimensions of friends' interests were identified in cluster analyses: Collegiate Activities, Intellectual Pursuits, Apathy or Alienation, and Traditional Adult Orientation. In contrast to previous studies that have focused on peer environment characteristics which were proximal to specific behaviors, the comparatively distal Friends' Interests dimensions were capable of accounting for variation on an array of social, psychological, and behavioral measures. In general, the Collegiate and Traditional clusters were related to a relatively conventional set of individual personality and behavioral variables among college-age men and women; on the other hand, the Intellectual and Apathy dimensions were associated with more unconventional or liberal personality characteristics and behaviors.The research reported here is based on the author's dissertation, which was carried out within a larger longitudinal study of The Socialization of Problem Behavior in Youth, supported by NIAAA Grant No. AA-00232, R. Jessor, principal investigator. The research was conducted while the author was a graduate student in social psychology - personality, and a research assistant at the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colarado. This article is Publication No. 174 of the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Major interests include social environment assessment and program evaluation.