The Crucial Role of Friendships and Peer Relationships in the Etiology of Crime, Deviance, and Substance Use

Abstract

Friends play a hugely important role in crime, substance use, and deviance. Despite this, the effects they exert on behavior are not constant throughout the life-course. Peers play a particularly important role during adolescence, but this effect wanes as people progress into early and middle adulthood. This chapter reviews the nuances of this developmental relationship and covers key theoretical concepts that focus on the role of friends and peers through development. Key findings from dyadic and social networks are also reviewed, and general recommendations on the current state of the research—including necessary future directions—are reviewed.