| Abstract: | Kandel's research on the relationship between friendship similarity and deviant behavior in adolescents is extended by a consideration of more mildly deviant behaviors, controlling for the possible spurious effects of sex, race, and grade. Tversky's theory of elimination by aspect is used to model the individual level decision-making process involved in friendship selection, and a contingency table model is used as an analytic framework. Results indicate that in females, even controlling for obvious friendship selection factors, mildly deviant behaviors like smoking, drinking, and particularly sexual intercourse affect the observed friendship structure. No such relationship is found in males, however. Tentative theories to explain this difference are proposed. |
