John H. Boman

On the Operational Validity of Perceptual Peer Delinquency: Exploring Projection and Elements Contained in Perceptions

Objectives. The authors examine perceptions of a peer’s substance use to determine whether and to what degree individuals project their own behavior onto their perceptions of peer’s delinquency, and to determine whether the constructs of self-control and peer attachment are related to perceptions. Methods. Using a sample of 2,154 young adult respondents within friendship pairs in which each respondent reported their own substance use and their perception of the friend’s use, the authors estimate a series of regression models with perceptions of a peer’s alcohol, marijuana, Salvia divinorum, and hard drug use as dependent variables. Results. Perceptions of a peer’s substance use are approximately equally related to a peer’s and a respondent’s use of each substance. Projection occurs to a greater extent when perceiving low-frequency behaviors. Low self-control is sporadically associated with higher perceived substance use. Conclusions. Peer self-reported delinquency and perceptions of peer delinquency are distinct constructs. Because projection appears to be worse for infrequent behaviors, researchers should use caution when using low-frequency behaviors to measure perceptual peer delinquency. Although the data used are cross sectional, the perceptual measure is confounded by too many variables other than a peer’s actual delinquency to be considered a valid measure of the sole construct of peer delinquency.

Investigating friendship quality: an exploration of self-control and social control theories' friendship hypotheses.

While associations with deviant peers are well understood to impact individual development, less is understood about the relationship between friendship quality and delinquency. Two criminological theories—social control theory and self-control theory—are able to offer an explanation for the latter relationship. Social control and self-control theories both premise that delinquents will have largely fractured, weak, and “cold and brittle” friendships. This study investigates how variations in perceptions of friendship quality are related to the delinquency, maternal attachment, school attachment, and self-control levels of both a participant and his/her close friend. To explore these relationships, we use a diverse (14% black; 18% Hispanic; 9% Asian) sample of 2,154 emerging adults within 1,077 friendship pairs (66% female). In each dyad, both members perceived the friendship’s quality and reported personal markers of delinquency, social bonds, and self-control. Several series of multilevel models are estimated that regress each participant’s friendship quality perception onto the participant’s and their friend’s delinquency, attachments, self-control, and demographic characteristics. Results show that delinquents have as intense, or more intense, friendships as non-delinquents. However, low levels of both actor and partner attachments and self-control are independently related to low friendship quality, and this is especially true for self-control. Supplemental analyses demonstrate that the effect of self-control on friendship quality may be reduced when individuals in dyads are delinquent. In conclusion, studies that address friendship quality without including characteristics of multiple members of the friendship are only capturing part of one’s estimate of friendship quality.

Assessing the Validity of the Retrospective Behavioral Self-Control Scale

Although there have been nearly 20 years of research on self-control theory, the measurement problems of the theory’s core construct linger and call into question the efficacy of self-control as a predictor of crime and delinquency. This study assessed the validity of a recently introduced behavioral measure of self-control, the Retrospective Behavioral Self-Control (RBS) measure, which is argued to remedy the conceptual and empirical problems afflicting prior self-control measures. Using a sample of students at a large southern university, this study finds that although a unidimensional and content-valid 18-item RBS measure is not as strong a predictor of crime and delinquency as the original RBS, it has substantially more predictive power than the most commonly used attitudinal measure of self-control, the Grasmick et al. scale. The implications of these findings for empirical tests of self-control theory as well as future directions for the measurement of self-control are discussed.

Public Perceptions of the Justifiability of Police Shootings: The Role of Body Cameras in a Pre- and Post-Ferguson Experiment

We conducted two studies, wherein participants from across the United States watched, heard, or read the transcript of an actual police shooting event. The data for Study 1 were collected prior to media coverage of a widely publicized police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. Results indicated that participants who could hear or see the event were significantly more likely to perceive the shooting was justified than they were when they read a transcript of the encounter. Shortly after the events in Ferguson, Missouri, we replicated the first study, finding quite different results. Although dissatisfaction with the shooting was seen in all forms of presentation, video evidence produced the highest citizen perceptions of an unjustified shooting and audio evidence produced the least. Citizens were nonetheless overwhelmingly favorable to requiring police to use body cameras. Body-mounted cameras with high-quality audio capabilities are recommended for police departments to consider.

Examining the Measurement of Novel Drug Perceptions: Salvia divinorum, Gender, and Peer Substance Use

Researchers commonly use a persons perception of the drug use of friends to determine the impact that peers exert on ones own behavior. Recently, there has been concern over this measures validity. Novel drugs, which are either newly discovered drugs or existing substances only recently used for recreational purposes, may be used so infrequently that people have too few observable opportunities to accurately develop perceptions of their peers use. Employing survey data collected in 2009 from 2,154 individuals within friendship pairs in the Southeast United States, we explore how gender affects perceptions of the infrequently used, novel drug Salvia divinorum. The studys limitations are noted.

The Role of Religious Support in Reentry Evidence from the SVORI Data

Objective: Research on the relationship between religion and criminal recidivism has produced encouraging but ultimately inconclusive findings. This study offers a new direction for studying the role of religious support in reentry, providing a longitudinal analysis of the effect of change in religious support on both crime and noncrime outcomes postrelease. Methods: Employing mixed-effects longitudinal analyses, this study uses data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative to examine the impact of religious support on postrelease substance use, criminal recidivism, and employment. Results: Religious support had strong and robust prosocial effects on both postrelease employment and substance use. The relationship between religious support and recidivism, however, did not reach statistical significance when we added social support to the research model. Conclusion: Religious support and meaning making seems to help people address their criminogenic needs and also seems to be an important responsivity factor that is often overlooked in criminological theory and practice. Religious support must therefore be recognized as an important theoretical and practical variable in current efforts to develop successful reentry pathways.

Magic Mint, the Internet, and Peer Associations: A Test of Social Learning Theory Using Patterns of Salvia Divinorum Use

As new drugs are introduced into the market, it becomes the role of policy makers to assess the dangers associated with each drug and its potential to be misused by the populace. The focus of this research is to better understand how young adults learn about a new drug and subsequently engage in its use. Salvia divinorum is a plant species whose leaves contain psychoactive components. Its recreational use among teenagers and young adults has received increased media and policy attention. Several states have taken the initiative to ban this substance. Despite this legal action, little is known about why this substance has gained in popularity and what factors contribute to its use. Akers’ social learning theory offers one explanation for why individuals experiment with drugs. We employ a sample of college students from a large public university to test Akers’ propositions, finding support for his theory.

Hirschi’s Redefined Self-Control Assessing the Implications of the Merger Between Social- and Self-Control Theories

The merger of Hirschi’s social bonding and Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theories has resulted in a recent redefinition of self-control as the “tendency to consider the full range of potential costs of a particular act.” The present study clarifies the implications of Hirschi’s redefinition, advances a new measure of redefined self-control, and provides an empirical test of key hypotheses using data from a Midwestern sample of adolescents. Results indicate that the alternative measure of redefined self-control has predictive validity. Although redefined self-control and social bonds are not the same thing, they are moderately correlated. Net of controls, redefined self-control has a significant direct effect on marijuana use and partially mediates the effect of social bonds.

Binge Drinking, Marijuana Use, and Friendships: The Relationship Between Similar and Dissimilar Usage and Friendship Quality

Abstract While it is commonly understood that the substance use of peers influences an individuals substance use, much less is understood about the interplay between substance use and friendship quality. Using a sample of 2,148 emerging adults nested within 1,074 dyadic friendships, this study separately investigates how concordance and discordance in binge drinking and marijuana use between friends is related to each friends perceptions of friendship quality. Because “friendship quality” is a complex construct, we employ a measure containing five sub-elements – companionship, a lack of conflict, willingness to help a friend, relationship security, and closeness. Results for both binge drinking and marijuana use reveal that individuals in friendship pairs who are concordant in their substance use perceive significantly higher perceptions of friendship quality than individuals in dyads who are dissimilar in substance use. Specifically, concordant binge drinkers estimate significantly higher levels of companionship, relationship security, and willingness to help their friend than concordant non-users, discordant users, and discordant non-users. However, the highest amount of conflict in friendships is found when both friends engage in binge drinking and marijuana use. Several interpretations of these findings are discussed. Overall, concordance between friends’ binge drinking and marijuana use appears to help some elements of friendship quality and harm others.

Specifying the Sources of Misperceptions of Peer Deviance: A Tale of Two Levels

“Peer deviance” is normally measured through one’s perceptions of the deviant behavior of friends. However, recent research suggests that peer deviance perceptions may be inaccurate and unreflective of a peer’s actual deviance. Using dyadic data, the current study addresses the potential for three distinct sources of misperceptions of peer deviance stemming from (a) the actor who generates the perception, (b) the friend about whose deviance is perceived, and (c) the friendship between the actor and the friend. Using multilevel regression alongside analyses of variance (ANOVAs), results demonstrate that misperceptions, overperceptions, and underperceptions of peer deviance occur frequently and systematically covary with the deviant behavior of the perceiver, the friend, and the total amount of deviance within the friendship.