Drifting Smoke Rings: Social Network Analysis and Markov Processes in a Longitudinal Study of Friendship Groups and Risk-taking 1

Social network analysis is applied to three time points of a longitudinal study, which examines how risk-taking (represented by smoking and cannabis use) in adolescence is associated with social position within peer group structures. One hundred and fifty two students in the second year of secondary education in one Scottish school named up to six best friends, allowing for the categorization of each adolescent as a group member, a group...