“Dynamics of Adolescent Friendship Networks and Smoking Behavior:
Social Network Analyses in Six European Countries.”
By Liesbeth Mercken, Tom Snijders, Christian Steglich, and Hein de Vries, 2009.
Social Science and Medicine 69, 1506-1514.

The co-evolution of adolescents' friendship networks and their smoking behavior is examined in a large sample across six European countries. Selection and influence processes are disentangled by using new methods of social network analysis that enable to control for alternative selection mechanisms. The sample consisted of 7704 adolescents participating in the control group of the ESFA (European Smoking prevention Framework Approach) study. The design was longitudinal with four measurements. Results indicated that in each country adolescents preferred selecting friends based on similar smoking behavior. Support for influence of friends was found only in two countries. Similarity of smoking behavior between friends was explained more strongly by smoking-based selection processes than by influence of friends in each of the six countries. Prevention programs need to address aspects that drive peer selection, and to reinforce non-smoking attitudes in adolescents.

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