The Consequences of Mixed-Sex Peer Groups in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Abstract

This dissertation is divided into three chapters. Chapter I finds adolescents with violently delinquent peers are more likely to report mixed-sex peer groups, but adolescents who are themselves delinquent are less likely to report mixed-sex peer groups. Chapter II finds heterosocial adolescents are more likely to drink underage. Heterosocial histories decrease drug use risk among young adults with many drug-using peers, and increase drug use risk among young adults with few drug-using peers. Chapter III explores associations between adolescent peer group sex composition and occupational outcomes. Formerly heterosocial adolescents are more likely than their homosocial counterparts to work in sex-incongruent occupations, and in sex-congruent fields characterized by a high degree of sex segregation.