ERIC Number: EJ748231
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Apr
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0047-2891
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
What Friends Are for: The Relationships between Body Image, Substance Use, and Peer Influence among Finnish Adolescents
Palmqvist, Riia; Santavirta, Nina
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, v35 n2 p192-206 Apr 2006
The study investigated the relationships between substance use, body image, and peer influence among Finnish adolescents. The participants (N = 488, 240 boys and 248 girls), were eighth-grade high school students. The data were gathered using a questionnaire. In addition to background information, the study covered risk behaviors frequency, body satisfaction, and peer relationships. The results indicated that the levels of body satisfaction among the adolescent girls studied were lower than those among the adolescent boys. It was found that the girls engaged in more discussion with peers than the boys concerning both intimate and general matters. Moreover, having an intimate relationship with one's peers was associated with a greater tendency to drink purely in order to get drunk. However, a slightly more distant relationship with friends was associated with a greater risk for smoking. In general, dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance seemed to relate to substance use. By highlighting the relationships between adolescents' body image, substance use, and peer influence the study gives pointers for further research, and may be suggestive in terms of the kinds of social policies that ought to be pursued in the future.
Descriptors: Self Concept, Substance Abuse, Peer Influence, Adolescents, Grade 8, Data Collection, Questionnaires, Risk, Peer Relationship, Gender Differences, Drinking, Foreign Countries, Smoking
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Grade 8; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A