Adolescent Friendship as a Dynamic System: Entropy and Deviance in the Etiology and Course of Male Antisocial Behavior

• Published in: Journal of abnormal child psychology Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. 651 - 663
• Main Authors: Dishion, Thomas J, Nelson, Sarah E, Winter, Charlotte E, Bullock, Bernadette Marie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Springer-Verlag New York, LLC 01.12.2004; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent boys; Adult; Adults; Antisocial Behavior; Antisocial behaviour; Behavior disorders; Behavior Problems; Child; Child Psychology; Discourse analysis; Dynamic models; Early Adolescents; Entropy; Etiology; Friends; Friendship; Friendships; Humans; Influence; Interaction; Interpersonal Relations; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Males; Models, Psychological; Multivariate Analysis; Oregon; Oregon Youth Study; Peer Group; Peer Influence; Peer relationships; Regression Analysis; Resistance (Psychology); Risk factors; Scientific Concepts; Sequential Approach; Social Behavior Disorders - psychology; Social Development; Systems Analysis; Teenagers; Videotape Recording; Oregon
• ISSN: 0091-0627; 2730-7166; 2730-7174
• DOI: 10.1023/B:JACP.0000047213.31812.21

A dynamic systems framework was applied to understand the influence of friendship on antisocial behavior from childhood (age 9-10) through adulthood (age 24-25) for Oregon Youth Study males (N = 206). Boys were videotaped interacting with a friend at ages 14, 16, and 18, and deviant content and interpersonal processes were independently coded. Conditional dyadic interpersonal processes were studied as a communication system and summarized by an index of information entropy (F. Attneave, 1959). High entropy scores represent disorganized, unpredictable patterns of interaction, whereas low entropy scores reflect an organized dialogue. Conversations of early-onset antisocial boys and their best friends were less organized and included more deviant content than those of well-adjusted controls. Prediction analyses, however, revealed an interaction between entropy and deviant talk. Consistent with expectation, males with well-organized interactions (i.e., low entropy) but elevated levels of deviant content were most likely to continue antisocial behavior into adulthood. Findings suggest that individual risk for maladaptation may be amplified by early adolescent friendship dynamics organized around deviance.