Selection and Socialization of Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors at the Peer Group Level (2011)

Undergraduates: Paul Shorkey, Joseph C. Franklin

Faculty Advisor: Mitchell Prinstein
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Recent advances in research on Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors (e.g., skin cutting, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, etc.; SITB) have identified evidence for a number of social factors and functions. Adolescence has been deemed a critical period, both in susceptibility to peer influence and the acquisition of SITB such as Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI). However, there has been no empirical examination to date on mechanisms through which adolescent peers may influence one another to adopt certain SITB (i.e., socialization), or how adolescents may choose their friend groups based on characteristics such as NSSI and suicidal ideation (i.e., selection). In order to address this gap, a stochastic actor-based model (i.e., SIENA) was used to model the peer network of 375 non-clinical adolescents. NSSI and suicidal ideation were measured at three separate time points, and were then used as dependent variables to examine possible socialization and selection. Results indicated that neither NSSI nor suicidal ideation predicted an adolescent’s number of friendship nominations, that peers tend to deselect (i.e., terminate mutual friendship with) peers with non-similar levels of NSSI over time, and that the socialization of suicidal ideation differs between reciprocated and non-reciprocated friendships. These results provide the first longitudinal evidence of selection and socialization in some forms of SITB, and have implications for both clinicians and researchers.