Birds of Different Feathers
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370807080718 |
| Published date | 01 October 2007 |
| Date | 01 October 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
ARTICLES
Volume 4 (4): 357–383: 1477-3708
DOI: 10.1177/1477370807080718
Copyright © 2007 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore
www.sagepublications.com
Birds of Different Feathers
School Networks of Serious Delinquent, Minor
Delinquent and Non-delinquent Boys and Girls
Frank M. Weerman
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR),
The Netherlands
Catrien C. J. H. Bijleveld
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement
(NSCR) and Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT
In this article, social network data are used to investigate relationships between
1730 non-, minor and serious delinquent students from lower-level secondary
education in the Netherlands. We analyse to what extent students with different
delinquency levels are clustered in student networks; how popular and central
delinquent students are in their network; and whether gender moderates
popularity and centrality. The results show that similarity in delinquency among
school friends is moderate and that non-delinquents, minor delinquents and
serious delinquents are mixed in school networks. Delinquent students are
slightly more popular and central in their networks than are non-delinquents.
However, analyses in which same and cross-gender relationships are separated
suggest that these differences are mainly the result of cross-gender friendships.
KEY WORDS
Delinquency / Group Processes / Juvenile Crime / Peers / Social Networks.
The relationship between delinquent peer affiliations and delinquent behav-
iour is one of the most consistent and replicated findings in studies on delin-
quent behaviour (see e.g. Agnew 1991; Elliott and Menard 1996; Reed and
Rose 1998; Matsueda and Anderson 1998; Warr 2002; Weerman 2004). In
the criminological literature this relationship is sometimes illustrated with
the saying ‘birds of a feather flock together’ (e.g. Glueck and Glueck 1950;
Hirschi 1969), indicating that delinquent youths often seem to seek each
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other’s company. However, studies of the relationship have been hampered
by an important measurement problem. Usually, respondents were asked to
report about the behaviour of their friends, which only indirectly measures
peer delinquency. This resulted in relatively strong associations between the
respondents’ delinquency level and that of their peers. But, as several
authors have argued, using indirect measures of peer delinquency may lead
to an overestimation of peer similarity in delinquency because adolescents
project their own behaviour onto their peers (Gottfredson and Hirschi
1987; Jussim and Osgood 1989; Kandel 1996; Loeber et al. 1998). Recent
studies based on direct measurement of peer delinquency using social net-
work methods (mapping friendships and asking respondents and their
friends about their own behaviour) result in much smaller, although still sig-
nificant and substantial, correlations (Aseltine 1995; Kandel 1996; Haynie
2001, 2002; Baerveldt et al. 2004; Weerman and Smeenk 2005).
Recently, the use of social network methods in this area has become
more widespread and popular (Ennett and Bauman 1993; Aseltine 1995;
Brendgen et al. 2000; Kandel 1996; Sarnecki 1990, 2001; Baerveldt 1992;
Baerveldt et al. 2004; Haynie 2001, 2002). In the influential studies of Haynie
(2001, 2002), entire school networks of delinquent and non-delinquent ado-
lescents were mapped out and analysed. Haynie took her data from the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which asked
respondents to choose their best male and female friends from a list of fellow
students (up to five male friends and up to five female friends). Her network
analysis revealed that the majority of respondents (56 percent) had a mixed
group of friends, including both adolescents who committed offences as well
as adolescents who did not.
This article builds on the studies of Haynie and other scholars using
social network methods to study peer similarity in delinquency. We use data
from the School Study of the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime
and Law Enforcement (NSCR), which collected detailed information about
adolescent delinquency, social networks of peers and best friends at school,
and peer involvement in delinquency. These data were used earlier to com-
pare the network measurement of peer delinquency with the traditional indir-
ect measurement method and to investigate peer similarity in delinquency
for friends and best friends (Weerman and Smeenk 2005). The aim of this
article is to provide more insight into the structure and homogeneity of stu-
dent networks with regard to delinquency and to investigate the position of
serious delinquents, minor delinquents and non-delinquents within their
school social networks. Although our analyses are to some extent a replica-
tion of the studies conducted by Haynie (2002), Baerveldt (1992) and
Baerveldt et al. (2004), we provide some important extensions to their ana-
lyses. First, we distinguish between minor and serious delinquent adolescents
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