Perceived peer norms, health risk behaviors, and clustering of risk behaviors among Palestinian youth

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 6; p. e0198435
• Main Authors: Glick, Peter, Khammash, Umaiyeh, Shaheen, Mohammed, Brown, Ryan, Goutam, Prodyumna, Karam, Rita, Linnemayr, Sebastian, Massad, Salwa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 21.06.2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol use; Alcohols; Arabs - psychology; At risk youth; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Bisexuality; Cluster Analysis; Clustering; Drinking (Alcoholic beverages); Drug abuse; Drug use; Female; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health Risk Behaviors; Health risks; Humans; Juvenile drug abuse; Medicine and Health Sciences; Norms; Palestinian Arabs; Peer Group; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Risk perception; Risk taking; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Social aspects; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Teenagers; Young Adult; Youth; Middle East; Lebanon; Gaza Strip; California; West Bank; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198435

Relatively little is known about patterns of health risk behaviors among Middle Eastern youth, including how these behaviors are related to perceived peer norms. In a sample of approximately 2,500 15-24 year old Palestinian youth, perceived engagement of general peers in alcohol consumption, drug use and sexual activity was substantially greater than youths' own (self-reported) engagement in these activities, suggesting a tendency to overestimate the prevalence of risk-taking behavior among peers. Individual participation in a risk behavior strongly covaries with the perceived levels of both friends' and peers' engagement in that behavior (p = 0.00 in each case). In addition, significant clustering of risk behaviors is found: youth who participate in one risk behavior are more likely to participate in others. These findings for a rare representative sample of Middle Eastern youth are strikingly similar to those in the US and Europe. The clustering of behaviors suggests that prevention programs should be structured to deal with a range of connected risk behaviors for which certain youth may be at risk. The findings also suggest that adjusting expectations about peers' behavior may reduce young Palestinians' engagement in risk taking.