Gender and Serious Violence

• Author: Darrell Steffensmeier,Kerryn E. Bell,Dana L. Haynie
• Published date: 01 July 2007
• Date: 01 July 2007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1541204007300358
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Subject Matter: Articles

Gender and Serious Violence

Untangling the Role of Friendship

Sex Composition and Peer Violence

Dana L. Haynie

Ohio State University

Darrell Steffensmeier

The Pennsylvania State University

Kerryn E. Bell

Ohio State University

Applying insights from social influence literature, in combination with key elements of gender

organization and socialization, the effect of friendship sex composition and exposure to peer

violence on girls’ and boys’involvement in serious violence is examined. It is hypothesized that

the impact of opposite-sex friendships on violence will differ for female youth compared to

male youth. The exceptionally detailed friendship network data available in the Add Health for

a sample of adolescents (N=14,044) is used to examine these hypotheses. Findings are sup-

portive of hypotheses and indicate that exposure to opposite-sex friends increases females’odds

of engaging in serious violence but operate to reduce males’ involvement in serious violence.

In addition, among females, peer influence is magnified as the proportion of opposite sex

friends increases in their friendship network. In contrast, among males, exposure to opposite

sex friends does not operate to suppress (or magnify) the effect of peer exposure to violence.

Keywords: gender; violence; peer networks

Youth violence is a serious public health issue in the United States, affecting families,

peers, communities, and victims. One of the strongest and most frequently docu-

mented correlates of violent behavior is gender. Females commit fewer violent offenses

than males at every age, within all racial and ethnic groups, and for all but a handful of

offense types (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). Indeed, a growing body of research has exam-

ined the correlates of violent behavior among male and female adolescents. The bulk of this

research has tended to develop either gender-specific (e.g., Chesney-Lind, 1989, Daly,

1994) or gender-neutral explanations of criminal and violent behavior (Agnew, 1992;

Akers, 1998; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Recently, a new middle-ground approach has

emerged that suggests that the general process of offending is similar for males and females

Youth Violence and

Juvenile Justice

Volume 5 Number 3

July 2007 235-253

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Authors’ Note: This research uses data from Add Health, a project designed by Richard Udry, Peter S.

Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Those interested in obtaining data from

Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 124 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC

27516-2524. Please address correspondence to Dana L. Haynie, Department of Sociology, Ohio State

University, 300 Bricker Hall, 190 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210.

but that the ways in which the key correlates of offending are experienced by males and

females vary in qualitatively different ways (Broidy & Agnew, 1997; Heimer & DeCoster,

1999; Morash, 1986; Steffensmeier & Haynie, 2000a, 2000b). In this study, we take a middle-

ground approach t o examine the role of opposite sex friends and exposure to peer violence

on girls’ and boys’involvement in serious violence. Using the exceptionally detailed friend-

ship network data available in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add

Health) for a nationally representative sample of school-aged adolescents in the United

States (N=14,044), we draw on insights from social influence literature in combination

with key elements of gender organization and socialization to develop hypotheses about the

role of opposite sex friends and exposure to peer violence.

Background

The interrelationship among gender, peer friendship networks (e.g., sex composition and

exposure to peer violence), and serious violence is an important topic of criminological

inquiry for four main reasons. First, friendship networks are central in the unfolding of ado-

lescence. Adolescents spend considerable time with their friends, ascribe great importance

to their friendships, and appear to be more strongly influenced by friends than are any other

age group (Giordano, Longmore, & Manning 2006; Warr, 2002). Second, delinquency is

typically a group phenomenon that involves co-offenders; peer influence—measured as

having delinquent friends—is widely recognized as a robust predictor of an adolescent’s

own delinquency (Agnew, 1991; Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985; Warr, 2002). Third, a

growing body of research documents that adolescent peer relations and group experiences

differ in important ways among girls and boys; though there is much overlap as well (e.g.,

much stronger relational orientation in girls’ peer groups as compared to boys’emphasis on

domination and competition). Fourth, although there is increasing recognition of the role of

peers and group processes in fostering delinquency among girls (and not just boys), the

bulk of the studies have concentrated on boys and those within their own male networks.

Few empirical studies have examined the role of peer influence on girls’ delinquency, and

even fewer still have examined the effects of both exposure to peer violence and the role of

opposite sex friends on either male or female delinquency.

Our principal goal in this article is to advance theory and research regarding the effects

of the gender composition of adolescent friendship groups and exposure to peer violence

on serious violent behavior, with particular focus on whether these effects are similar or dif-

ferent for boys and girls and whether exposure to peer violence is conditioned (in gendered

ways) by the proportion of opposite sex friends. Only a small number of studies have

addressed the interrelationships among gender, peer friendship networks, and delinquency

(Agnew & Brezina, 1997; Galvaby, 2003; Giordano, 1986; Heinze, Toro, & Urberg, 2004;

McCarthy, Felmlee, & Hagan, 2004; Mears, Ploeger, & Warr, 1998)—and that research has

involved limited samples, limited measures of opposite sex friendship networks, and/or

limited measures of delinquency. Furthermore, the studies that have been conducted examine

either gender composition of friendships or exposure to peer delinquency but neither simul-

taneously. Last, none of the studies (to our knowledge) eliminate the possible confounding

236 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice