Unstructured Socializing With Peers and Risk of Substance Use: Where Does the Risk Begin?

• Published date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042618774263
• Date: 01 July 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042618774263

Journal of Drug Issues

2018, Vol. 48(3) 452 –471

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042618774263

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Article

Unstructured Socializing With

Peers and Risk of Substance Use:

Where Does the Risk Begin?

Ryan Charles Meldrum1 and Anna Leimberg1

Abstract

Research finds that unstructured socializing with peers is positively associated with substance

use, but important issues remain underexamined. Specifically, does the risk of substance use

resulting from time spent engaged in unstructured socializing with peers begin immediately,

or is a certain minimum threshold of time spent with peers required? To investigate this, data

were collected on a statewide sample of adolescents from Florida. Results indicate the minimum

required amount of time spent engaging in unstructured socializing with peers to pose a risk

of alcohol or marijuana use is 3 to 5 hr per week. For tobacco use outcomes, the minimum

number of hours required to pose a risk is higher, particularly for cigarette use, where risk

begins at more than 20 hr per week. Supplementary analyses indicate that for alcohol and

marijuana use there is a decelerating risk stemming from additional hours spent engaging in

unstructured socializing with peers.

Keywords

unstructured socializing with peers, substance use, FYSAS, adolescence

Introduction

A large body of research supports the hypothesized association between unstructured socializing

with peers and delinquency and substance use (e.g., Augustyn & McGloin, 2013; Bernburg &

Thorlindsson, 2001; Haynie & Osgood, 2005; Hoeben, Meldrum, Walker, & Young, 2016;

Osgood & Anderson, 2004) put forth by Osgood, Wilson, O’Malley, Bachman, and Johnston

(1996). In this regard, some studies find the magnitude of the effect of unstructured socializing

with peers is comparable with other major correlates of antisocial behavior, primarily low self-

control and peer delinquency (e.g., Meldrum, Young, & Weerman, 2009). Given this evidence,

the construct of unstructured socializing with peers should be viewed as an important correlate of

delinquency and substance use that needs to be considered when formulating prevention and

intervention programming directed at adolescents.

For any theory, tests of its core arguments receive the bulk of attention from researchers. Yet,

once a saturation point is met, researchers begin examining secondary arguments of the theory

1Florida International University, Miami, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ryan Charles Meldrum, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University, 11200 SW

8th Street, PCA-364B, Miami, FL 33199, USA.

Email: rmeldrum@fiu.edu

774263JODXXX10.1177/0022042618774263Journal of Drug IssuesMeldrum and Leimberg

research-article2018

Meldrum and Leimberg 453

and developing expansions of it. This is true of Osgood et al.’s (1996) theory and its emphasis on

unstructured socializing with peers as an explanation of delinquency and substance use. The lit-

erature base providing support for this primary argument of the theory has grown large enough

that researchers have started considering, for example, whether there are racial and gender differ-

ences in the association between unstructured socializing with peers and antisocial behavior

(e.g., Augustyn & McGloin, 2013; Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell, & Dintcheff, 2007), whether

unstructured socializing with peers interacts with other key correlates of antisocial behavior (e.g.,

Hay & Forrest, 2008; Svensson & Oberwittler, 2010), and whether there are macro-level effects

of unstructured socializing with peers on delinquency (e.g., Osgood & Anderson, 2004).

Largely absent from the literature, however, is a consideration of where the risk of delin-

quency and substance use stemming from unstructured socializing with peers begins. Put differ-

ently, does the risk of antisocial behavior stemming from unstructured socializing with peers

begin immediately, or does risk emerge only after a certain minimum threshold of time spent

engaging in unstructured socializing with peers is met? Investigating this issue requires data and

modeling strategies that enable a consideration of the relative amount of time spent engaging in

unstructured socializing with peers rather than modeling the association as linear using a continu-

ous measure. We are aware of only one study, however, that has indirectly considered this issue

(Gage, Overpeck, Nansel, & Kogan, 2005).

We see two reasons why investigating this issue is important. First, recent research focused on

other key correlates of delinquency and substance use, particularly self-control and peer delin-

quency, has started to consider the possibility of nonlinear relationships (e.g., Mears, Cochran, &

Beaver, 2013; Sullivan & Loughran, 2014; Zimmerman & Messner, 2011; Zimmerman &

Vásquez, 2011). Given the accumulating evidence supporting the link between unstructured

socializing with peers and antisocial behavior, extending considerations of nonlinearity to this

literature is a logical next step. Second, given the framing of unstructured socializing with peers

as a measure of opportunity to engage in antisocial behavior, there are important policy implica-

tions which stem from knowing if the risk of antisocial behavior posed by time spent engaging in

unstructured socializing with peers begins immediately or if it instead requires a certain mini-

mum threshold for risk to be realized.

To investigate this issue, we examine the association between unstructured socializing with

peers and substance use by making use of data collected on a statewide sample of middle-school

and high-school students who participated in the 2017 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey

(FYSAS). These data include information on self-reported hours spent engaging in unstructured

socializing with peers on a weekly basis and recent substance use, enabling an assessment of the

relative amount of hours different adolescents spend engaging in unstructured socializing with

peers. Before describing our methodology and presenting the results of our analysis, we first

review prior theory and research on the relevance of unstructured socializing with peers for

explaining antisocial behavior in general, and substance use more specifically. In the process, we

discuss arguments which speak to the issue of whether the beginning risk of substance use posed

by unstructured socializing with peers could depend on the particular substance use under

consideration.

Unstructured Socializing With Peers and Antisocial Behavior

In their seminal article, Osgood and colleagues (1996) provide an extension of routine activity

theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979) by adapting its principles to explain individual variation in anti-

social behavior. Osgood et al. (1996) draw on the principles of routine activity theory to argue

that unstructured socializing with peers reflects differential opportunity to engage in delinquency,

substance use, and criminal behavior. According to Osgood and colleagues, unstructured social-

izing with peers reflects three elements that should encourage antisocial behavior. First,