Homophily and Peer Influence in Developmental Processes that Support Learning

附属公司在关键属性上往往是相似的。这种现象被称为同质性，在青春期尤其令人感兴趣，因为人们担心，在年轻人特别容易受到同龄人影响的时候，朋友和恋人会促进不适应行为，并干扰学业成就。然而，这种说法受到了尖锐的批评，因为它们夸大了同伴社交的影响，忽视了这样一个事实，即年轻人倾向于选择与自己相似的同伴作为朋友和浪漫伴侣。由于密切关系参与者的非独立数据特点(即伙伴之间的相互影响，使他们彼此更相似，而不是随机的，但这也使统计分析有偏差)，调和这些不一致的观点的进展受到了严重的方法挑战。因此，对亲密同龄人之间相似性的科学理解是不完整的，几乎没有经验证据来描述哪些人最容易改变以增加他们与朋友和浪漫伴侣的相似性。该项目利用了两个纵向项目的档案数据：(A)10至18项目，这是一项为期5年的社区研究，对象是瑞典中部一个小城市4年级至12年级的所有学生；以及(B)STAR项目，这是一项为期5年的研究，研究对象是丹佛14至19岁的青少年中的朋友和恋爱关系。这些研究包含有关同性恋的补充信息，涵盖了各种教育结果和已知的限制教育成绩的因素。该项目有两个目标：(A)在反映学习的领域和在限制学习的背景下，具体说明选择和社会化的影响；(B)确定易受朋友和浪漫伴侣影响的青年的特征。为了达到这些目标，将设计和改进测量同质性的新分析技术。针对非独立数据设计的分析策略将随着时间的推移估计选择和社会化，将伴侣的影响从个人稳定性中分离出来。该项目将对同伴关系的科学研究产生深远影响，更广泛地说，将对关于同伴对学业成绩和适应的影响的假设产生深远影响。在对科学界的影响方面，为评估同质性而设计的二元数据分析技术将为这一主题的研究设定一个新的方法标准，使过去过时的经验做法过时，并修正关于同行对发展的影响的传统看法。就对青少年学习的影响和制约青少年学习的环境而言，该项目将为教育和公共卫生的进步奠定基础。目前促进学业成就和遏制不正常的同龄人影响的努力假定了一种关系参与者相互影响的模式。学校的课程、教学活动和同伴干预将会更有效，如果将影响因素与影响接受者区分开来，并为每个人制定专门的计划。

Affiliates tend to be similar on key attributes. This phenomenon, known as homophily, is of particular interest during adolescence because of concerns that friends and romantic partners promote maladaptive behaviors and interfere with academic achievement at a time when youth are especially susceptible to peer influence. Such claims have been sharply criticized, however, for overstating peer socialization effects and ignoring the fact that youth tend to select peers who resemble themselves as friends and romantic partners. Progress reconciling these dissonant views has been slowed by the significant methodological challenges posed by the nonindependent data characteristic of participants in close relationships (i.e., mutual influence between partners that makes them more similar to one another than to random others but that also biases statistical analyses). As a result, scientific understanding of similarity between close peers is incomplete and there is almost no empirical evidence describing which individuals are most apt to change to increase their similarity with friends and romantic partners. The project utilizes archival data from two longitudinal projects: (a) the 10 to 18 Project, a 5-year community study of all students enrolled in the 4th through the 12th grade in a small city in central Sweden; and (b) Project STAR, a 5-year study of friend and romantic relationships in Denver youth ages 14 to 19. These studies contain complementary information about homophily that encompasses a variety of educational outcomes and factors known to constrain educational achievement. The project has two objectives: (a) specify selection and socialization effects in domains that reflect learning and in contexts that constrain learning, and (b) identify characteristics of youth who are susceptible to influence from friends and romantic partners. To meet these objectives, new analytic techniques that measure homophily will be devised and refined. Analytic strategies designed for nonindependent data will estimate selection and socialization over time, disentangling partner influence from individual stability. The project will have a profound impact on the scientific study of peer relationships and, more generally, on assumptions about the influence of peers over academic achievement and adjustment. In terms of impact on the scientific community, the dyadic data analytic techniques devised to assess homophily will set a new methodological standard for research on the topic, rendering obsolete past empirical practices and revising the conventional wisdom about peer influence over development. In terms of impact on adolescent learning and contexts that constrain it, the project will lay the groundwork for advances in education and public health. Current efforts to promote academic achievement and curb deviant peer influences assume a model in which relationship participants are mutually influential. School curricula, instructional activities, and peer interventions will be more effective if influence agents are distinguished from influence recipients, with programs specifically crafted for each.