Friendship and Violence in Adolescence

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Clemens Kroneberg
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 216610733

The project aims at a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underlie youth violence as well as inter-ethnic differences therein. The main focus is on the impact and dissemination of violence-legitimizing norms. We use integrative theories of action to analyze the conditions under which such norms lead to violence and how they interact with opportunities, incentives, conforming norms and self-control. By collecting social network data on the multiplex social ties between adolescents, we also shed light on the role of the peer group for youth violence. Both scientific questions are also of practical importance, as answering them will help us to understand whether and how violent offenders can be deterred and how to prevent the emergence, consolidation and social diffusion of violence-legitimizing norms in adolescence.In order to collect the necessary panel data, a prospective longitudinal study of seventh-graders was started in the cities of Gelsenkirchen, Recklinghausen, Marl, Gladbeck, and Herten in fall 2013. The second wave of data collection is under way. The target sample was comprised of all students in seventh grade in all types of secondary schools apart from special-needs schools and the schools qualifying students for admission to University (Gymnasium). The main reasons for sampling all schools of these types in these five adjacent cities were considerations of sample size and composition (violent offenders, migration background) as well as the goal to collect complete school networks of all seventh-graders.At the school level, a very good response rate of 86,7 percent was realized (39 out of 45 schools). A total of 2,635 students were interviewed in 123 school classes. Among them are more students of Turkish origin that aimed for (746 instead of 650). The first wave therefore laid an excellent foundation for additional waves of data collection.We apply for funding of two further waves that would allow us to answer our research questions in a comprehensive and causally rigorous way at the level of leading national and international panel studies in the field. Continuing the panel in the case of initial success was already foreseen in the original application for funding. The greater variation within persons (e.g., in personal moral norms) and in the networks (e.g., with respect to friendships or status) over a period of four years would allow much more powerful longitudinal analyses on our main research questions. This is true in particular with regard to the processes of socialization and selection among peers and the onset and desistance from violence in adolescence. Moreover, by collecting a third and fourth wave, we would be able to shed light on the non-existence or emergence of inter-ethnic differences in youth violence and extend our focus to more serious forms of violent offending.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants