Journal Article

Patterns of Adolescent Friendship and Effects on Sexual Behavior

Udry, J. Richard, John O. G. Billy

1985

Overview

Using panel data from a junior high school system in an urban area of Florida we investigate adolescent friendship structure along the dimension of sexual behavior. White females and white males tend to name same-sex friends whose sexual intercourse behavior is like their own. Sexual intercourse is not a significant factor in accounting for adolescent friendship structure among blacks, males or females. We then specify models which permit us to answer whether observed homogeneity bias in sexual behavior is due to a process of influence, deselection, and/or acquisition. The sexual behavior of white females is influenced by their same-sex friends' sexual behavior. These is no evidence that adolescents deselect friends on the basis of dissimilarity in sexual behavior. Both white males and white females acquire friends whose sexual behavior is like their own. We suggest that race-sex differences with respect to degree of adolescent-friend similarity in sexual behavior and the sources of this similarity may center around differences in group relevance or salience of the sexual act and race-sex differences in the nature of friendships.

• Publisher: American Sociological Association,American Sociological Association, etc
• Subject: Adolescence/Adolescent/Adolescents / Adolescent / Adolescents / Behavior modeling / Biological and medical sciences / Developmental psychology / Friend/Friends/Friendship / Friendship / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Gender bias / Human sexual behavior / Mating behavior / Observational research / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychology. Psychophysiology / Race/Races/Racial/Racially (see also Relations, Race) / Ratios / Sex differences (see also Gender differences) / Sexual behavior / Sexual intercourse / Social psychology