Homophily and Peer Influence in Developmental Processes that Support Learning

附属机构往往在关键属性上相似。这种被称为“同质性”的现象在青少年时期引起了人们的特别关注，因为人们担心，在青少年特别容易受到同伴影响的时候，朋友和恋人会促进适应不良行为，干扰学业成就。然而，这种说法受到了严厉的批评，因为它夸大了同伴社会化的影响，忽视了年轻人倾向于选择与自己相似的朋友和恋人这一事实。密切关系中参与者的非独立数据特征（即伙伴之间的相互影响，使他们彼此之间比随机的人更相似，但这也会使统计分析产生偏差）带来的重大方法挑战，减缓了调和这些不一致观点的进展。因此，对亲密同伴之间相似性的科学理解是不完整的，而且几乎没有经验证据表明，哪些人最容易改变，以增加他们与朋友和恋人的相似性。该项目利用了两个纵向项目的档案数据：(a) 10 - 18项目，这是一项为期5年的社区研究，研究对象是瑞典中部一个小城市的所有4至12年级学生；(b) STAR项目，一项针对丹佛14至19岁青年的朋友和恋爱关系的5年研究。这些研究包含了关于同质性的补充信息，包括各种教育成果和已知的限制教育成就的因素。该项目有两个目标：(a)具体说明在反映学习的领域和限制学习的环境中的选择和社会化影响，以及(b)确定易受朋友和恋人影响的青年的特征。为了达到这些目标，测量同质性的新分析技术将被设计和改进。为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，从个体稳定性中分离伴侣影响。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就和适应的影响的假设产生深远影响。就对科学界的影响而言，为评估同质性而设计的二元数据分析技术将为该主题的研究设定新的方法标准，使过去的经验做法过时，并修订关于同伴影响发展的传统智慧。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方面的进步奠定基础。当前促进学业成就和抑制越轨同伴影响的努力假设了一种关系参与者相互影响的模型。学校课程、教学活动和同伴干预将更加有效，如果影响者和受影响者被区分开来，并为每个人制定专门的方案。

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.