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Duke Series in Child Development & Public Policy Conference
Sponsored by the Center for Child and Family Policy
Peer Influence Processes in Youth
October 9-10, 2006
Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University
Perhaps the most consistent and potent predictor of adolescents' engagement in deviant and health risk behavior is adolescents' belief that their peers are engaging in similar levels of behavior. This peer influence effect has been revealed for adolescents' externalizing symptoms, such as aggressive and illegal behaviors; health risk behaviors, such as the use of alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana; engagement in sexual risk behaviors and problematic weight-related behaviors; and adolescents' internalizing symptoms, including symptoms of depression and even suicidality.
Surprisingly, research rarely has examined interpersonal and intrapersonal mechanisms that underlie peer influence and may be targeted in interventions. In addition, little work has examined moderators of peer influence. Yet, numerous extant theories and preliminary findings from the fields of clinical, developmental, social psychology, sociology, marketing, public health, and psychiatry offer important insights to address these issues.
Peer Influence Processes in Youth, the sixth conference in the Duke Series on Child Development and Public Policy, will be held October 9-10 at Duke University. The conference will assemble leading experts across multiple social science disciplines who currently are engaged in innovative and significant work advancing an understanding of youth socialization and influence. Topics will address specific mechanisms that explain how peer influence operates for a variety of psychological symptoms and health risk/promotion behaviors among children and adolescents.
Peer Influence Processes in Youth will be organized around three major themes: (1) The theory and research bases that explain both why adolescents emulate the behavior of their peers across different peer contexts and relationships; (2) An examination of factors that modify susceptibility or resistance to peer influence; (3) Policy and intervention implications.
This conference is targeted toward scholars who are studying deviant peer influences and practitioners and policy makers who are interested in learning about the latest research in this area.
Registration
Because seating is limited, we ask that you please register as soon as possible. The conference presentations are thematically integrated, so we are hoping that those planning to attend the conference will attend both days.
Please visit the links above to view the draft agenda and register for the conference. A list of local hotels and directions to the Sanford Institute are also linked.
If you have questions about the conference or registration, please contact Erika Layko in the Center for Child and Family Policy, 919-613-7303 or ehlayko@duke.edu.
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