Social Context of Violent Victimization: A Study of the Delinquent Peer Effect

• NCJ Number: 205058
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 23-47
• Author(s): Christopher J. Schreck; Bonnie S. Fisher; J. Mitchell Miller
• Date Published: March 2004
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined how characteristics of friendship networks affect vulnerability to violent victimization among adolescents.

Abstract

Drawing on previous research on the effects of delinquent peers, and most recently from the network analysis by Haynie (2001) on the structural dimensions of peer networks, the current study explored whether delinquent peer associations increase the risk of violent victimization. The analysis focused on the influence of the structural characteristics of peer networks, including density, centrality, and popularity, on the risk of victimization. The authors draw on routine activities and lifestyles theories to form the hypothesis that the level of victimization risk associated with peer networks depends on the level of delinquency among members of the network. Data were drawn from the first wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) conducted between September 1994 and December 1995. Participants were 3,567 students attending United States schools in grades 7 through 12. Violent victimization was the dependant variable and independent variables included peer delinquency, centrality, density, popularity, and social bonds. Results of overdispersed Poisson regression analysis indicate that social ties with delinquent peers do help determine the amount of violent victimization experienced by adolescents. However, peer delinquency operates more as a conditioning variable than as a main effect. Specifically, the findings revealed that central and popular members of dense and conventional peer networks had a low risk of victimization, while the opposite was true of similarly situated members of delinquent peer networks. The findings support the assertion that research on peer context and victimization would benefit from a network analysis by showing that an adolescents’ peer network can influence the likelihood of violent victimization. Limitations of the current research include a reliance on secondary data and no measurement of property victimization. References