Teen Friendship networks, Development, and Risky Behavior

This volume presents an overview and summary of findings from the PROSPER (Promoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Peers project, which for over a decade has sought to illuminate how adolescent friendship networks channel and facilitate the spread of developmental outcomes such as substance use, other risky behaviors, mental health problems, and educational success. In addition, it has probed the role of friendship networks in extending the impact of school and family-based prevention programs aimed at reducing substance misuse and improving adolescents' futures. The chapters here integrate results from PROSPER Peers' more than 50 publications along with new analyses and findings. This work was made possible by tracking the friendship networks and behaviors of thousands of students in 27 Iowa and Pennsylvania communities across middle and high school. The volume concludes with discussions by colleagues who were not involved in PROSPER Peers, and a concluding chapter focuses on the implications of this work for social capital during adolescence.