Family, Neighborhood, and School-Based Networks of Black and White Adolescents: Effects on Conventional and Unconventional Behavior

Adolescents drift between family, school, and neighborhood networks, taking on situated identities in each context and being subject to different idiocultures.  Their behavior may vary depending upon the degree to which they are embedded in each type of social capital.  We examine how embeddedness in family, school, or neighborhood networks affects conventional and unconventional behavior.  Data were gathered as part of a longitudinal study of families (N=699), friendships, and adolescent development in Buffalo, New York.  We first compare network size of black and white adolescents, along with the degree to which they are embedded in family, school-based, or neighborhood networks.   Second, we examine the effects of embeddedness in each type of network on conventional and unconventional behavior.  The larger the percent of network members seen in a context, the more embedded in that context.   Finally, we examine whether effects vary by race.  On average, black adolescents’ networks are smaller than whites, but they include a much larger percentage of family members (i.e., blacks are more embedded in family networks). Whites are more embedded in school-based networks.  Both groups are equally embedded in neighborhood networks.  The more embedded adolescents are in family networks, the higher their GPAs and the less likely they are to smoke, use marijuana, get drunk, commit acts of major deviance, or have multiple sex partners.  Interaction effects show stronger effects of family embeddedness for black adolescents on multiple sexual partners, and for whites on marijuana use.  Regardless of race, the more embedded in school-based networks, the higher their GPAs, the less likely they are to smoke cigarettes, and the fewer sex partners they have had.  The more embedded adolescents are in neighborhood networks, the more likely they are to smoke cigarettes, use marijuana, and commit major acts of deviance, such as robbery, assault, or gang fighting.