Citation

Mundt MP, Antonaccio OP, French MT, Zakletskaia LI. J. Youth Adolesc. 2017; 46(8): 1643-1660.

Affiliation

Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1100 Delaplaine Ct, Madison, WI, 53715, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10964-017-0631-6

PMID

28091862

Abstract

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.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent friendship groups; Cohesion; Integration; Social network analysis; Social networks; Weapon-related crime