Social network analysis of peer effects on binge drinking among U.S. adolescents

Abstract

Adolescent binge drinking is a public health challenge. The study analyzes data from Add Health, a longitudinal survey of seventh through eleventh grade students enrolled between 1995 and 1996. A stochastic actor-based model simulates the co-evolution of binge drinking and friendship connections. Selection effects play a significant role in the creation of peer clusters with similar binge drinking. Friendship nominations between two students with similar binge drinking frequency were 3.46 (95% CI: 2.38-5.01) times more likely than between otherwise identical students with differing alcohol use frequency. An adolescent who nominated binge drinkers as friends was 14% more likely to begin binge drinking than adolescents with non-binge drinking friends. The data demonstrate that strong family ties reduced the odds of adolescent binge drinking by 7%. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.