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Weapon-related violent crime is a serious, complex, and multifaceted public health problem. The present study uses data from Waves I and III of Add Health (n = 10,482, 54% female) to examine how friendship group integration and cohesion in adolescence (ages 12-19) is associated with weapon-related criminal activity as a young adult (ages 18-26). Results indicate that greater cohesion in friendship groups is associated with significantly lower weapon-related criminal activity in young adulthood. In addition, for adolescent girls, a greater number of close friendship ties-an indicator of friendship group integration-is associated with less weapon-related criminal activity in young adulthood. These findings suggest that school-based initiatives to facilitate inclusive and cohesive adolescent peer communities may be an effective strategy to curb weapon-related criminal activity in young adulthood.

Background: Social connections at all stages of life are essential for physical and mental well-being. Of particular importance are social relationships during adolescence that shape adult health behaviors and health outcomes., Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the association between adolescent peer status in school and later-life quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and healthcare costs., Methods: This study used social network and health outcomes data from Wave I (ages 12-18 years) and Wave III (ages 18-24 years) of the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 10,578) to compare QALYs and healthcare costs (in 2012 US$) by adolescent peer status in US schools. Generalized linear models controlled for school fixed effects, individual and family characteristics, and US census block neighborhood effects. Non-parametric bootstrapping accounted for residual skewness in QALYs and healthcare costs. Net monetary benefit (NMB) was calculated by converting adjusted 5-year QALYs into US$ values and subtracting 5-year healthcare costs. NMB was then compared across quintiles of adolescent peer status in school at Wave I., Results: Results obtained from non-parametric bootstrapping indicate that adolescents with higher peer status in school experience significantly better health and lower healthcare costs over the next 5 years. At US$50,000 per QALY, adolescents with 8 or more friends achieved NMB of US$214,300 (95 % CI 212,800-215,800) over a 5-year span, in comparison to adolescents with 0-1 friends, who attained US$209,900 (95 % CI 207,900-211,700) NMB. This difference translates into approximately US$4,440 (95 % CI 2,036-6,825) per socially disengaged adolescent in additional health costs and/or reduced QALYs over 5 years., Conclusion: The study calls for randomized controlled trials targeting adolescent peer group structures in schools as a means to promote better health and lower healthcare costs in adulthood.

Background: Early adolescent alcohol use is a major public health challenge. Without clear guidance on the causal pathways between peers and alcohol use, adolescent alcohol interventions may be incomplete. The objective of this study is to disentangle selection and influence effects associated with the dynamic interplay of adolescent friendships and alcohol use., Methods: The study analyzes data from Add Health, a longitudinal survey of seventh through eleventh grade U.S. students enrolled between 1995 and 1996. A stochastic actor-based model is used to model the co-evolution of alcohol use and friendship connections., Results: Selection effects play a significant role in the creation of peer clusters with similar alcohol use. Friendship nominations between two students who shared the same alcohol use frequency were 3.60 (95% CI: 2.01-9.62) times more likely than between otherwise identical students with differing alcohol use frequency. The model controlled for alternative pathways to friendship nomination including reciprocity, transitivity, and similarities in age, gender, and race/ethnicity. The simulation model did not support a significant friends' influence effect on alcohol behavior., Conclusions: The findings suggest that peer selection plays a major role in alcohol use behavior among adolescent friends. Our simulation results would lend themselves to adolescent alcohol abuse interventions that leverage adolescent social network characteristics.

Objective: Early adolescent alcohol use is a major public health problem. Drinking before the 14th birthday is associated with a fourfold increase in risk of alcohol dependence in adulthood. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between adolescent social network characteristics and alcohol initiation prospectively over time., Methods: The study analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative survey of 7th- through 11th-grade students enrolled between 1995 and 1996. Generalized estimating equations are used to model the risk of alcohol use initiation at 1-year follow-up among nondrinkers at wave 1 of the study., Results: Both an adolescent's friends' alcohol use and the adolescent's social network characteristics displayed an independent main effect on alcohol initiation. In comparison with abstainers, alcohol initiators had more popular friends as measured by more peer nominations as friends (indegree) and having more friends up to 3 steps removed (3-step reach), and more friends who drank. An adolescent's risk of alcohol use onset increased 13% (95% CI, 4%-22%) for every additional friend with high indegree, 3% (95% CI, 0.3%-6%) for every additional 10 friends within 3-step reach, and 34% (95% CI, 14%-58%) for each additional friend who drank alcohol, and after controlling for confounders., Conclusion: The findings suggest that, in addition to well-established demographic risk factors, adolescents are at heightened risk of alcohol use onset because of their position in the social network in relationship to their friends and the friends of their friends., (Copyright © 2011 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)