More than Risk? Longitudinal Changes in Friendship Support with Serious Adolescent Offenders

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Criminology
• Sociology

Background:

• Adolescent friendships are crucial developmental assets, providing vital social support.
• Existing research on offending youth disproportionately emphasizes peer delinquency over friendship support.
• Understanding friendship dynamics is essential for supporting adolescents involved in the justice system.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine between- and within-individual variations in friendship support among male adolescents with serious offenses.
• To explore how friendship support changes over time in this population.
• To investigate racial and ethnic differences in reported friendship support.

Main Methods:

• Utilized multi-level modeling techniques.
• Analyzed longitudinal data from 1040 male youth (ages 14-18) in the Pathways to Desistance study.
• Included participants from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Main Results:

• Adolescents reported high levels of friendship support, which showed a modest decline over the study period.
• Support from delinquent peers was reported at lower levels compared to other friendships.
• Black and Hispanic youth reported higher friendship support than White youth; however, support trajectories did not differ significantly by race/ethnicity.

Conclusions:

• Friendships among serious offending adolescents are complex and provide substantial support.
• The findings challenge a dichotomous view of these friendships as solely delinquent or supportive.
• Interventions should acknowledge the supportive role of friendships for justice-involved youth.