Dana L. Haynie

Intergenerational Religious Dynamics and Adolescent Delinquency

Integrating theories about religious influence, religious homogamy, and delinquency, this study examines religions potential for both reducing and facilitating adolescent delinquency. Analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health show that the more religious mothers and their adolescent children are, the less often the children are delinquent; however, the effect of ones religiosity depends on the other. When either a mother or child is very religious and the other is not, the childs delinquency increases. Thus, religion can be cohesive when shared among family members, but when unshared, higher adolescent delinquency results. These findings shed light on how family religious dynamics shape well-beingand more generally emphasize that the influence of religiosity depends on the social context in which it is experienced.

Dangerous liaisons? Dating and drinking diffusion in adolescent peer networks

The onset and escalation of alcohol consumption and romantic relationships are hallmarks of adolescence. Yet only recently have these domains jointly been the focus of sociological inquiry. We extend this literature by connecting alcohol use, dating, and peers to understand the diffusion of drinking behavior in school-based friendship networks. Drawing on Granovetter’s classic concept of weak ties, we argue that adolescent romantic partners are likely to be network bridges, or liaisons, connecting daters to new peer contexts that, in turn, promote changes in individual drinking behaviors and allow these behaviors to spread across peer networks. Using longitudinal data of 449 couples from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate Actor–Partner Interdependence Models and identify unique contributions of partners’ drinking, friends’ drinking, and friends-of-partners’ drinking to daters’ own future binge drinking and drinking frequency. Findings support the liaison hypothesis and suggest that friends-of-partners’ drinking have net associations with adolescent drinking patterns. Moreover, the coefficient for friends-of-partners’ drinking is larger than the coefficient for one’s own peers and generally immune to prior selection. Our findings suggest that romantic relationships are important mechanisms for understanding the diffusion of emergent problem behaviors in adolescent peer networks.

Toward a Criminology of Inmate Networks

The mid-twentieth century witnessed a surge of American prison ethnographies focused on inmate society and the social structures that guide inmate life. Ironically, this literature virtually froze in the 1980s just as the country entered a period of unprecedented prison expansion, and has only recently begun to thaw. In this manuscript, we develop a rationale for returning inmate society to the forefront of criminological inquiry, and suggest that network science provides an ideal framework for achieving this end. In so doing, we show that a network perspective extends prison ethnographies by allowing quantitative assessment of prison culture and illuminating basic characteristics of prison social structure that are essential for improving inmate safety, health, and community reentry outcomes. We conclude by demonstrating the feasibility and promise of inmate network research with findings from a recent small-scale study of a maximum-security prison work unit.

Where “Old Heads” Prevail: Inmate Hierarchy in a Men’s Prison Unit

Research on inmate social order, a once-vibrant area, receded just as U.S. incarceration rates climbed and the country’s carceral contexts dramatically changed. This study returns to inmate society with an abductive mixed-methods investigation of informal status within a contemporary men’s prison unit. We collected narrative and social network data from 133 male inmates housed in a unit of a Pennsylvania medium-security prison. Analyses of inmate narratives suggest that unit “old heads” provide collective goods in the form of mentoring and role modeling that foster a positive and stable peer environment. We test this hypothesis with Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) of peer nomination data. The ERGM results complement the qualitative analysis and suggest that older inmates and inmates who have been on the unit longer are perceived by their peers as powerful and influential. Both analytic strategies point to the maturity of aging and the acquisition of local knowledge as important for attaining informal status in the unit. In summary, this mixed-methods case study extends theoretical insights of classic prison ethnographies, adds quantifiable results capable of future replication, and points to a growing population of older inmates as important for contemporary prison social organization.

Building them up, breaking them down: Topology, vendor selection patterns, and a digital drug market’s robustness to disruption

Abstract Drug distributors are increasingly turning to online markets to deliver and procure illegal drugs. Online venues allow drug vendors to span broad audiences, reshape organizational structure, and remain relatively anonymous. Such trends raise fundamental questions regarding the structural robustness, topological characteristics, and tie formation patterns in online drug distribution networks. We examine one online illegal opioid transaction network. We characterize the network’s topology, evaluate selection dynamics that sustain and facilitate the growth of the drug market, and investigate network vulnerability. Results support the existence of trust-based preferential attachment and give insight to how the network reacts to disruption.

Understanding Racial Differences in Exposure to Violent Areas

Emerging evidence indicates that exposure to areas prone to violence may influence youth well-being. We employ smartphone GPS data on a sample of urban youth to examine the extent of, and potential explanations for, racial disparities in these exposures. We use data from the Adolescent Health and Development in Context study, which continuously collects GPS data from the smartphones of participating youth for a week, to analyze exposure to violent areas. We find that exposure varies significantly across days of the week and between youth who reside in the same neighborhood. African American youth are exposed to areas with substantially higher levels of violence. Residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood is significantly associated with exposure to violence and explains some of the racial difference in this outcome, but neighborhood factors are incomplete explanations of the racial disparity. Characteristics of the locations at which youth spend time explain the residual racial disparity in exposure to violent areas. These findings highlight the importance of youth activity spaces, above and beyond their neighborhood environments.

Social Networks and Health in a Prison Unit

Although a growing body of research documents lasting health consequences of incarceration, little is known about how confinement affects inmates’ health while incarcerated. In this study, we examine the role of peer social integration and prisoners’ self-reported health behaviors (smoking, exercise, perception of health, and depression) in a prison unit. We also consider whether inmates with similar health characteristics cluster within the unit. Drawing on a sample of 132 inmates in a “good behavior” unit, we leverage social network data to ask: In prison, is it healthier to become friends with other prisoners or keep your head down and “do your own time”? Using exponential random graph models and community detection methods, findings indicate that social integration is associated with better health outcomes. However, race-ethnicity, religious identity, and exercise intensity emerge as key factors sorting inmates into social groups and likely shaping the distribution of health behaviors observed in the unit.

Adolescent Dating Violence Victimization and Relationship Dissolution

We integrate literature on gender and adolescent friendships to examine the association between adolescent dating violence victimization (ADVV) and relationship dissolution. In particular, we test whether ADVV increases the hazard of relationship dissolution among adolescent romances, and whether a number of friendship dynamics alter the association between ADVV and relationship dissolution. Using discrete time event history models from 5,787 romantically involved youth from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), results indicated, on average, ADVV was not associated with the hazard of relationship dissolution for girls or boys. However, the positive effect of ADVV was stronger for girls who did not withdraw from their friendships over the course of their romantic relationships. This study highlights the importance of peer groups and gender in shaping youths’ decisions to exit abusive relationships.

Variation in Sexual Double Standards across Schools How Do They Matter for Adolescent Sexual Behavior

The sexual double standard—a condition in which sexual activity is perceived to entail more social benefits for boys and men than for girls and women—has implications for adolescent sexual behavior. We employ an innovative assessment of the sexual double standard, measuring the strength of it across 75 high schools with Add Health data (N = 8,458). Drawing on theories of culture and gender, we test the association between school-based sexual double standards and the number of sexual partners reported by adolescents, paying particular attention to gender differences in the association. Results indicate substantial variation in the strength of the sexual double standard across schools. In addition, boys report greater numbers of sexual partners as the sexual double standard in their school becomes stronger. Conversely, the sexual double standard is not associated with the number of girls’ partners. This study illustrates the interactive roles of gender and culture in shaping adolescent sexual behavior.