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Adolescents who befriend online game using peers may be at risk for initiated and continued excessive game use (online gaming use homophily). The present article examined how adolescents' severity of online gaming use related to their friends' online gaming behavior bi-directionally across a semester (peer selection or peer influence effect). Students from two universities completed three waves of online surveys within four and a half months (N = 3079; 33.6% female; Mage = 19.16; SD = 0.97). Random-intercepts, Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) analyses revealed that peer selection and peer influence both promote online gaming use homophily in adolescents' friendship groups. Furthermore, participants were more likely to form new friendships with peers exhibiting similar online gaming behavior as their behavior, subsequently reinforcing their online gaming use behaviors within these relationships. These social processes may exhibit a time lag among girls, which needs to be confirmed through longer-term follow-up. In general, findings suggest that effective prevention programs targeting excessive online gaming should not only focus on promoting social influence skills but also consider the structure of peer environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forming optimal peer groups is a crucial step in multiplier valuation. Among others, the traditional regression methodology requires the definition of the optimal set of peer selection criteria and the optimal size of the peer group a priori. Since there exists no universally applicable set of closed and complementary rules on selection criteria due to the complexity and the diverse nature of firms, this research exclusively examines unlisted companies, rendering direct comparisons with existing studies impractical. To address this, we developed a bespoke benchmark model through rigorous regression analysis. Our aim was to juxtapose its outcomes with our unique approach, enriching the understanding of unlisted company transaction dynamics. To stretch the performance of the linear regression method to the maximum, various datasets on selection criteria (full as well as F- and NCA-optimized) were employed. Using a sample of over 20,000 private firm transactions, model performance was evaluated employing multiplier prediction error measures (emphasizing bias and accuracy) as well as prediction superiority directly. Emphasizing five enterprise and equity value multiples, the results allow for the overall conclusion that the self-organizing map algorithm outperforms the traditional linear regression model in both minimizing the valuation error as measured by the multiplier prediction error measures as well as in direct prediction superiority. Consequently, the machine learning methodology offers a promising way to improve peer selection in private firm multiplier valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commonly cited connection between peer influence and peer selection effects was explored in an effort to understand whether cognitive distortion, as represented by neutralization beliefs and cognitive impulsivity, plays a role in linking the peer influence and peer selection effects to each other. Participants were 3568 children (51.3% female) enrolled in the longitudinal portion of the Gang Resistance Education and Training study. Data from five waves of Gang Resistance Education and Training were organized into a series of paths and subjected to multilevel multiple regression longitudinal analysis, where data were clustered by classroom. Two principal analyses were performed. In the first analysis, peer delinquency and participant delinquency were cross-lagged to form four prospective peer selection paths (delinquency → peer delinquency) and four prospective peer influence paths (peer delinquency → delinquency). These paths were then subjected to multilevel (complex sampling design) multiple regression analysis, controlling for age, sex, race, group status, and the most proximal prior measure of the outcome variable. Seven of the eight paths proved significant. In the second analysis, neutralization beliefs and cognitive impulsivity were included in the middle wave of the five-wave model, controlling once again for age, sex, race, group status, and the proximal autoregressive path of the outcome variable. The results of this second analysis revealed that both neutralization beliefs and cognitive impulsivity mediated the connection running from peer selection to peer influence, although neither mediated the peer influence-to-peer selection chain. The direct effects for delinquency and peer delinquency across the five waves were also significant. These findings suggest that the peer selection and influence effects are interdependent, reciprocal, and linked, in part, by cognitive distortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a critical gap in our understanding of how peer relationships contribute to positive youth development. To address this gap the current study uses longitudinal social network data to examine if fun youth were socially desirable, inclusive of peers, and positive agents of social influence during the transition to adolescence. Participants were 210 students (47% female; Mage = 11.55 years at the outset) from 8 classes in 3 schools in a small Lithuanian city. Each child received a fun score consisting of nominations from classmates as "someone who is fun to be around". Participants also nominated up to five classmates as friends. Fun students received more friendship nominations than their peers and they maintained higher levels of social desirability over time. Fun youth appeared to be inclusive of their peers in that fun youth did not appear to have preferences to befriend only those like themselves. The friends of fun youth were positively influenced such that they were perceived to be more fun over time. The findings suggests that fun youth may promote positive social change within peer groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendships with classmates play a significant role in student's development. However, only some friendships are maintained for longer than a school year and their formation depend on many factors. One important factor is gender because gender homophily is consistently found in friendship networks. In addition, there is evidence that same-gender friendships are more stable. In the context of inclusive education, friendship can be considered as one of four key dimensions of social inclusion. While three of these dimensions are assessed from others' perspective, self-perception of social inclusion focuses solely on the individual students' view. However, hardly any studies investigated how students' self-perception of social inclusion is related to friendships, and more specifically, whether and how self-perceived social inclusion is related to changes in friendship networks in the classroom. To contribute to this research gap, friendship networks of 280 students aged 9–11 years (49% girls) in 15 classes of Grade 4 were examined at the beginning and at the end of one school year. Network changes were analyzed with longitudinal social network analyses. Students' gender and self-perception of inclusion were added as predictors of changes in the friendship networks. The results confirmed gender homophily for formation and stability. The analyses also showed that students who perceived themselves as socially included nominated more best friends at the end of the school year but were not necessarily perceived as best friends by their peers. This highlights the importance of considering different perspectives to better understand social inclusion in classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forming optimal peer groups is a crucial step in multiplier valuation. Among others, the traditional regression methodology requires the definition of the optimal set of peer selection criteria and the optimal size of the peer group a priori. Since there exists no universally applicable set of closed and complementary rules on selection criteria due to the complexity and the diverse nature of firms, this research exclusively examines unlisted companies, rendering direct comparisons with existing studies impractical. To address this, we developed a bespoke benchmark model through rigorous regression analysis. Our aim was to juxtapose its outcomes with our unique approach, enriching the understanding of unlisted company transaction dynamics. To stretch the performance of the linear regression method to the maximum, various datasets on selection criteria (full as well as F- and NCA-optimized) were employed. Using a sample of over 20,000 private firm transactions, model performance was evaluated employing multiplier prediction error measures (emphasizing bias and accuracy) as well as prediction superiority directly. Emphasizing five enterprise and equity value multiples, the results allow for the overall conclusion that the self-organizing map algorithm outperforms the traditional linear regression model in both minimizing the valuation error as measured by the multiplier prediction error measures as well as in direct prediction superiority. Consequently, the machine learning methodology offers a promising way to improve peer selection in private firm multiplier valuation.

Background: Determine if individual adolescent vaping is associated with the vaping behavior of their school-based friendships; whether that association stems from peer influence or peer selection; and whether it varies by age. Methods: Two wave longitudinal survey of 1,208 students in one Midwestern US school district. Students were asked if they ever vaped and to name their seven closest friends within the school district. A roster of all eligible students was pre-loaded into the survey to facilitate network data collection. Terms for network exposure, the proportion of vaping friends; and selection, the number of new friends who vape, were created. Logistic regression and Stochastic Actor Oriented Models were used to test both influence and selection effects. Results: A cross-sectional logistic regression model indicated that friend vaping was associated with individual vaping (AOR = 4.96, p < 0.01); and lagged logistic models indicated that increased friend vaping was associated with individual vaping initiation (AOR = 1.72, p < 0.05). Selecting new friends who vape was also associated with becoming a vaper (AOR = 1.25, p < 0.01). Both influence and selection were present for those less than 14 years old. Conclusions: This is the first study to use social network analysis to show that adolescents who vape or initiate vaping are more likely to do so if their friends vape, and/or they make new friends who vape. Prevention and cessation programs should address the role of friend influence and selection on e-cigarette use; particularly at younger ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a robust volume of evidence documenting adverse effects of racial discrimination experiences on adolescent adjustment outcomes, relatively little is known about the relational consequences of racial discrimination experiences for adolescent friendship networks. To address this gap, this study examines how racial discrimination experiences shape and are shaped by friendship network dynamics in early and middle adolescence. The current study's goals were to explicate whether relational consequences of racial discrimination experiences for friendship network selection differed between interracial and intraracial friendships among Black and Latinx youth, and how these adolescents were influenced by their friends' racial discrimination experiences. Longitudinal social network analysis was used among a sample of predominantly Latinx and Black middle school students from the southwestern U.S. (n = 1034; 50.1% boys, Mage = 12.1, 13.8% White, 18.6% Black, 53.1% Latinx, 14.4% Other race and multiracial). The results showed that Black and Latinx youth preferred intraracial friends. Above and beyond that, Black youth were more likely to have intraracial friendships when the focal individual reported lower levels of general racial discrimination experiences and higher levels of adult-perpetrated racial discrimination experiences. Black and Latinx adolescents reported increases in general racial discrimination experiences over time, as a function of their friends reporting higher levels of racial discrimination (e.g., peer influence). These findings advance developmental research by showing that racial discrimination experiences are consequential for friendship network dynamics by increasing the likelihood of intraracial friend selection among Black youth and through peer influence processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender stereotypes are harmful for girls' enrollment and performance in science and mathematics. So far, less is known about children's and adolescents' stereotypes regarding technology and engineering. In the current study, participants' (N = 1,206, girls n = 623; 5–17-years-old, M = 8.63, SD = 2.81) gender stereotypes for each of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains were assessed along with the relation between these stereotypes and a peer selection task in a STEM context. Participants reported beliefs that boys are usually more skilled than are girls in the domains of engineering and technology; however, participants did not report gender differences in ability/performance in science and mathematics. Responses to the stereotype measures in favor of one's in-group were greater for younger participants than older participants for both boys and girls. Perceptions that boys are usually better than girls at science were related to a greater likelihood of selecting a boy for help with a science question. These findings document the importance of domain specificity, even within STEM, in attempts to measure and challenge gender stereotypes in childhood and adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of digitalization on different modes of peer selection in public sector benchmarking. We do so in the context of a field study of the impact of "Kolada"—a digital database and benchmarking device comparing the performance of Swedish municipalities. We find that the municipal quality controllers often used algorithmically selected peer groups to identify "pure" performance gaps for a range of performance indicators. Politicians, departmental managers, and the citizenry, however, continued to prefer benchmarking against neighboring municipalities. Drawing on Gieryn's concept of cultural cartography, differences in peer selection are characterized as a form of credibility contest between digitally generated and local maps. Our paper contributes to the literature in three main ways. First, we demonstrate how peer selection involves a mutual interplay between new digitally generated, abstract maps of performance and local cartographic legacies sustained by complex social attachments. Second, our paper illustrates the importance of often overlooked social ties informing processes of peer selection, highlighting the importance of professional ties, neighborly familiarity, and affective relations. Third, our paper characterizes the power of "native truths." More generally, our paper indicates the epistemic authority of digital "truths" is contestable and may be resisted. Ultimately, the coexistence of "old" and new epistemic maps confers choice, which contributes to the legitimacy of new technologies enabling digitalized benchmarking to persist in shifting and locally meaningful ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of local peer selection on global opinion dynamics evolving on signed social networks, where both cooperative and antagonistic ties coexist. Specifically, we focus on how opinions of stubborn individuals can be efficiently learned by a signed social network using peer selection mechanism. First, we examine the correlation between the selection of influence anchors of stubborn individuals and the opinion formation of the signed social network. Then, we proceed to examine an eigenvector-based peer selection strategy and show how the strategy can be beneficial in the spreading efficiency of stubborn individuals' opinions. Finally, how the local observations of peers' opinions can be employed for peer selection is investigated, enabling a global opinion spreading efficiency enhancement through only local decision-making amongst social individuals. The application of the proposed peer selection strategy to the Friedkin-Johnsen opinion dynamics model on signed networks is discussed. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this exploratory study was to examine the interpersonal dynamics of an after-school math club for middle schoolers. Using social network analysis, 2 networks were identified and analyzed: (a) a network of friendship relationships and (b) a network of working relationships. The interconnections and correlations between friendship relationships, working relationships, and a student opinion survey were studied. We identified a core working group of students from within the network of working relations. This group acted as a central go-between for other members in the club. This core working group also expanded into the largest friendship group in the friendship network. A second group was formed from popular but aloof students who reported less impact from the club. Although there were working isolates, they were not found to be socially isolated. Students who were less popular tended to report a greater favorable impact from club participation than those who were more popular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between peers and delinquency has been taken as evidence for selection and socialization effects in the etiology of adolescents. Accumulating evidence suggests that both effects are involved. This study examines whether adolescents' aggressive propensities and behaviors predict their peers (selection) and whether peers' propensities and behaviors predict adolescents' behaviors (socialization). The latent class growth analysis approach revealed three distinct subgroups: an early-onset group (0.9%); a late-peak group (3.37%); and a normative group (95.73%). Both selection and socialization effects were supported using a longitudinal Korean adolescent self-report. The results showed that adolescents with less self-control who are online more frequently and exhibit higher levels of traditional bullying and delinquency were more likely to be members of both the early-onset and late-peak groups compared with the normative group. Also, the aggressive behaviors fully mediated the link between aggressive propensities and delinquent peer associations. Furthermore, adolescents in the late-peak group (but not those in the early-onset group) were associated with a greater likelihood of online and offline delinquency, but cyberbullying and traditional bullying in late adolescence levels were high in both groups' members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that has gained significant attention and growth in recent years. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin does not rely on a centralized authority to control the supply, distribution, and verification of the validity of transactions. Instead, Bitcoin relies on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network of volunteers to distribute pending transactions and confirmed blocks, to verify transactions, and to collectively implement a replicated ledger that everyone agrees on. This P2P network is at the heart of Bitcoin and many other blockchain technologies. In this paper, we present a comparative measurement study of nodes in the Bitcoin network. We measure and analyze how many the so-called “volunteers” are in the Bitcoin P2P network by scanning the live Bitcoin network for 37 days in 2018 and compare them with the data reported by prior work in 2013~2016. This paper is motivated by the fact that Bitcoin has experienced explosive growth in terms of a number of users, transactions, value, and interest over a recent couple of years. Our investigation includes the IP addresses of Bitcoin nodes, size of the network, power law in the geographic distribution, protocol, and client versions, and network latencies and shows how today's network is different from early days. In addition, based on the observations made from the measurement study, we propose a simple distance-based peer selection rule for improved connectivity and faster data propagation. The evaluation results show that our proposed lightweight and backward-compatible peer selection rule has the potential to reduce data dissemination latency.

This study analyzes the extent to which students in inclusive elementary classrooms select classmates for collaboration and play activities on the basis of academic achievement. To investigate this association, second and third graders (n = 506, mean age = 7.6 years) were asked to nominate classmates with whom they collaborate and play at the beginning and middle of the school year. The academic achievement level of students was assessed with a standardized mathematical test at the first measurement point. Two longitudinal social network models were specified to analyze whether academic achievement level functions as a selection criterion for collaboration (academic context) and play activities (play context). Structural network effects, selection effects, and sex-related effects were included in the models. The selection effects on academic achievement revealed that high achieving students were more likely selected by peers for collaboration but not for play activities. Thus, academic achievement was only relevant for peer selection processes in the academic context. Further, a negative homophily effect on academic achievement was found, which indicates that students selected dissimilar peers in terms of academic achievement level for interactions in the academic and play context. Thus, on one hand there was no similarity in academic achievement among peers who liked to collaborate and play together, which is a positive result from an educational and inclusive perspective; on the other hand, there was a tendency to select high achieving rather than low achieving peers for collaborative activities. Teaching practices that can help prevent the formation of such a hierarchy in the classroom and implications for future studies on the link between academic achievement and peer selection processes are discussed.

The principal goal of this study was to identify the mechanisms responsible for the victim-offender overlap. Participants were 1,354 (1,170 males, 184 females) youthful offenders (mean age = 16.04 years) from the Pathways to Desistance study. The path running from violent offending to violent victimization was tested for mediation using peer delinquency and unsupervised routine activities as mediators, whereas the path running from violent victimization to violent offending was tested for mediation using peer delinquency and depression as mediators. Congruent with the first research hypothesis, peer delinquency mediated the violent offending–violent victimization pathway and did so significantly better than unsupervised routine activities. Contrary to the second hypothesis, peer delinquency did not mediate the violent victimization–violent offending pathway. The role of person proximity and peer selection in linking violent offending to future violent victimization is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether maternal closeness and participation in unstructured routine activities differentially predicted change in child and peer delinquency for female and male youth above and beyond the effects of peer influence and selection. Participants were 3,370 (1,759 boys, 1,611 girls) members of the Fragile Families and Child Welfare Study. When regression analyses were performed on boys and girls separately, unstructured routine activities effectively predicted a rise in child and peer delinquency in boys and maternal closeness successfully predicted a drop in child and peer delinquency in girls, findings consistent with gendered pathways theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the optimal dynamic social-aware peer selection with spectrum-power trading to maximize the average sum energy efficiency (EE) of cellular users (CUs) for uplink transmission for an orthogonal frequency division multiple access cellular network with device-to-device (D2D) communications. Different from the previous studies, which mostly focus on how to exploit social ties in human social networks to construct the permutation of all the feasible peers, we consider dynamic peer selection with social awareness-aided spectrum-power trading in D2D overlaying communications. Specifically, the amount of transmit power from the D2D transmitters to relay the CUs for uplink transmission is determined by their social trust levels. Likewise, the D2D transmitters can gain the corresponding amount of spectrum from the CUs for D2D pair link communications, which can be regarded as the compensation of the power consumption for relaying CUs. We formulate the dynamic peer selection problems with social awareness-aided spectrum-power trading in cooperative D2D communications into the infinite-horizon time-average renewal-reward problems subject to time average constraints on a collection of penalty processes. And the Lyapunov optimization concepts-based drift-plus-penalty algorithms are proposed to solve them. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic peer selection algorithms. And further performance comparison indicates that the proposed dynamic peer selection algorithms not only maximize the average EE of CUs but also guarantee higher privacy protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve faster content distribution speed and stronger fault tolerance, a P2P peer can connect to multiple peers in parallel and receive chunks of the data simultaneously. A critical issue in this environment is selecting a set of nodes participating in swarming sessions. Previous related researches only focus on performance metrics, such as downloading time or the round-trip time, but in this paper, we consider a new performance metric which is closely related to the network and propose a peer selection algorithm that produces the set of peers generating optimal worst link stress. We prove that the optimal algorithm is practicable and has the advantages with the experiments on PlanetLab. The algorithm optimizes the congestion level of the bottleneck link. It means the algorithm can maximize the affordable throughput. Second, the network load is well balanced. A balanced network improves the utilization of resources and leads to the fast content distribution. We also notice that if every client follows our algorithm in selecting peers, the probability is high that all sessions could benefit. We expect that the algorithm in this paper can be used complementary to existing methods to derive new and valuable insights in peer-to-peer networking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Peers become increasingly important socializing agents for academic behaviors and attitudes during adolescence. This study investigated peer influence and selection effects on adolescents' emotional (i.e., flow in schoolwork, school burnout, school value), cognitive (i.e., school effort), and behavioral (i.e., truancy) engagement in school. A social network approach was used to examine students of post-comprehensive education in Finland (N = 1419; mean age = 16). Students were asked to nominate peers to generate peer networks and to describe their own school engagement at two time points (one year apart). Network analyses revealed that the degree to which peer influence and selection effects occurred varied by dimension of school engagement. Over time, peers influenced students' emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement. Similarity in behavioral engagement, but not in emotional and cognitive engagement, increased the likelihood of forming new peer relationships. Additionally, some of the peer influence and selection effects on school engagement were moderated by student academic achievement. Highlights • Peer effect on school engagement includes influence and selection processes. • School engagement is a multidimensional construct. • Students had a tendency to choose new peers based on earlier similarity in behavioral engagement. • Students became more similar to their peers in terms of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement. • Some peer influence and selection effects on engagement were moderated by achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IEEE 802.11s introduces MAC-layer extensions to enable vendor-independent and inter-operable WLAN mesh networks. Featuring automatic device interconnection and routing, 802.11s networks provide a higher scalability, flexibility, and robustness compared to common centralized WLAN infrastructures. As logical Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks exhibit many of the characteristics of physical WLAN mesh networks on the application layer, it is obvious to consider solutions where both technologies interact to leverage robust distributed wireless applications, such as collaborative data distribution and synchronization in future smart cities. Envisioned scenarios include the administration and update deployment to specific device groups or the distributed caching and delivery of on-demand multi-media content to selected end points within a city-area wireless mesh network. Nevertheless, common P2P protocols, such as BitTorrent (BT), do not consider the structure of the physical underlay as they were primarily designed to be used over wired communication networks, such as large parts of the Internet. Hence, the default BT peer selection mechanism does not adapt to the network topology and varying medium utilization in wireless multi-hop networks. We present MeNTor , a set of optimizations to enable underlay-aware BT peer selection in WLAN mesh networks. It relies on cross-layer integration of default 802.11s information, only requiring minor extension of the BT application layer without introducing any MAC-layer modifications or traffic overhead. Our solution was evaluated in a 25-node real-world mesh test bed, using 10 different seed/leecher placements and comparing 18 parameter combination variants of MeNTor . Results show that average download times can be reduced by 30–40%, depending on the seed/leecher placement and parameter combination variant. Finally, we recommend the variant that performed best across all scenarios as prospective default configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether accounting comparability is associated with the likelihood that CEO compensation is tied to relative accounting performance (e.g., return on assets). We predict that higher accounting comparability increases the risk-sharing benefit of accounting-based RPE because peer firm performance better controls for common risk in RPE firm performance. Thus, firms that have higher accounting comparability with potential performance peers will be more likely to include accounting-based RPE as a component of the total CEO compensation contract. We find support for this prediction using (1) an explicit test design that relies on the ex ante terms of CEO compensation contracts obtained from proxy disclosures, and (2) an implicit design that relies on the actual realizations of CEO compensation. To provide further evidence, we examine the association between accounting comparability and the selection of performance peers when the CEO compensation contract includes an accounting-based RPE component. We find that higher comparability between the RPE firm and a potential peer firm increases (decreases) the potential peer firm’s likelihood of being selected into (dropped from) the peer group. Cross-sectional analyses show that this association is less pronounced, or not present, when the relative performance measure is price-based (as opposed to accounting-based), indicating that these results do not merely reflect a more general role of comparability in all RPE contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the extensive use of peer-to-peer applications in recent years, the network traffic becomes more dynamic and less predictable, which leads to the decline of network resource utilization and the degradation of network performance. Aiming towards the above problems, we explore how to strengthen the cooperation between peer-to-peer applications and networks, making the application adjust its own traffic mode according to current network traffic status to enhance the stability of network traffic. We improve two key algorithms of peer selection and choking/unchoking in the protocol and introduce traffic relaxation to characterize traffic state while taking the current most popular peer-to-peer application (bit torrent protocol) as an example. In our improved method, peers are selected probabilistically according their traffic relaxation, and the double-parameter selection problem that simultaneously considers the traffic relaxation and transfer rate of peers is also solved. Finally, we conduct simulation experiments in two real network typologies with real traffic matrix data and different sizes of bit torrent swarms; the experimental results show that our method can significantly improve the stability of the network traffic without sacrificing or even improving the performance of the bit torrent protocol when compared with original BT protocol.

Violent neighborhoods and low-performing schools continue to devastate young, low-income, African-American men and their families, despite individual and family use of kin and peer network navigation strategies. To learn more, interviews were conducted with 40 young African-American men, ages 18 to 22, from Baltimore City enrolled in a general equivalency diploma (GED) and job training program, and analyzed with modified grounded theory. Young men identified unsafe neighborhoods, chaotic schools, and disengaged teaching. Young men used safety and success strategies such as avoiding trouble and selecting positive peers to navigate unsafe environments. African-American families utilized kin network strategies such as messaging and modeling success, and mobilization for safety. Limits of unrecognized and unsupported strategies were related to: mobilization, limited educational partnership, and disproportionate family loss. Results indicate the continued urgent need for: (1) targeted violence reduction in high-violence neighborhoods, (2) calm and effective learning environments, (3) higher ratios of teachers to students to reduce chaos and improve learning, and (4) genuine teacher partnerships with families to improve access to positive role models, academic supports, and positive peer network development.

Black, Asian, and White participants (N = 210) created self-resembling avatars and engaged in peer-selection tasks during social events in the virtual world, Second Life, that were designed to simulate various types of resource competition. Participants in merit-based resource competition settings had less diversity in their peer groups compared to participants in settings where no resource competition was present, and Asian participants had lower preference for Black peers. Furthermore, these relationships were mediated by out-group discomfort. Results are discussed in relation to partial support for triangulated threat theory of group relations among Blacks, Asians, and Whites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Television transmitted over IP (IPTV) presents numerousopportunities for users as well as service providers, and has attracted significant interest from industry as well asresearch communities in recent years. Among the emergingIPTV delivery architectures, the peer-to-peer based deliverymechanism is considered attractive due to the relative ease of service deployment and potential bandwidth savings. However, the question of how well P2PTV networks would support a growing number of users has not been fully investigated so far. In this paper, we try to address this question by studying scalability and efficiency factors in a typical P2P based live streaming network. Through the use of the data provided by a production P2PTV network, we carry out simulations whose results show that there are still hurdles to overcome before P2P based live streaming could become widely deployed.

In peer selection a group of agents must choose a subset of themselves, as winners for, e.g., peer-reviewed grants or prizes. We take a Condorcet view of this aggregation problem, assuming that there is an objective ground-truth ordering over the agents. We study agents that have a noisy perception of this ground truth and give assessments that, even when truthful, can be inaccurate. Our goal is to select the best set of agents according to the underlying ground truth by looking at the potentially unreliable assessments of the peers. Besides being potentially unreliable, we also allow agents to be self-interested, attempting to influence the outcome of the decision in their favour. Hence, we are focused on tackling the problem of impartial (or strategyproof) peer selection – how do we prevent agents from manipulating their reviews while still selecting the most deserving individuals, all in the presence of noisy evaluations? We propose a novel impartial peer selection algorithm, PeerNomination , that aims to fulfil the above desiderata. We provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the recall of PeerNomination and prove various properties, including impartiality and monotonicity. We also provide empirical results based on computer simulations to show its effectiveness compared to the state-of-the-art impartial peer selection algorithms. We then investigate the robustness of PeerNomination to various levels of noise in the reviews. In order to maintain good performance under such conditions, we extend PeerNomination by using weights for reviewers which, informally, capture some notion of reliability of the reviewer. We show, theoretically, that the new algorithm preserves strategyproofness and, empirically, that the weights help identify the noisy reviewers and hence to increase selection performance.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether inductive parenting is capable of reducing delinquent peer influence. This hypothesis was tested using the first four waves (1976–1979) and all 1,725 (918 boys and 807 girls) members of the National Youth Survey (NYS). Inductive parenting was scored from 6 dichotomous items completed by a parent at Wave 1. Peer influence and selection were based on measures of peer and own delinquency completed by adolescent members of the NYS. As predicted, the pathway from inductive parenting to peer influence was significant and the pathway from inductive parenting to peer selection was not, although the two pathways were not significantly different from one another. These results suggest that inductive parenting exerts a small but potentially important effect on peer influence and may be one way of preventing the proactive or instrumental criminality believed to be transmitted through the peer influence process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the hypothesis that male role models inhibit delinquent peer selection but not delinquent peer influence in adolescent boys, whereas female role models inhibit delinquent peer selection but not delinquent peer influence in adolescent girls. On analyzing longitudinal data from 425 boys and 425 girls, it was discovered that a role model index (1 = biological parent, 2 = other role model, 3 = no role model) correlated significantly with subsequent offending in both sexes. After controlling for the effects of age, race, parental marital status, and caregiver deviance, male and female versions of the role model index—male role model (MRM) and female role model (FRM)—predicted peer selection but not peer influence in boys and girls, respectively. These results suggest that same-sex role models are capable of protecting youth against peer selection but have little apparent impact on peer influence or socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendship tie choices in adolescent social networks coevolve simultaneously with youths' cigarette smoking and drinking. We estimate direct and multiplicative relationships between both peer influence and peer selection with salient parental factors affecting both friendship tie choice and the use of these 2 substances. We utilize 1 sample of 12 small schools and a single large school extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Using a Stochastic Actor-Based modeling approach over 3 waves, we find: (a) a peer selection effect, as adolescents nominated others as friends based on cigarette and alcohol use levels across samples; (b) a peer influence effect, as adolescents adapted their smoking and drinking behaviors to those of their best friends across samples; (c) reciprocal effect between cigarette and alcohol usage in the small school sample; (d) a direct effect of parental support and the home smoking environment on adolescent friendship tie choice in the small school sample; (e) a direct effect of the home smoking environment on smoking across samples; (f) a direct effect of the home drinking environment on alcohol use across samples; and (g) a direct effect of parental monitoring on alcohol use across samples. We observed an interaction between parental support and peer influence in affecting drinking, and an interaction between the home drinking environment and peer influence on drinking, in the small school sample. Our findings suggested the importance of delineating direct and synergistic pathways linking network processes and parental influence as they affect concurrent cigarette and alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether neighborhood context, as measured by maternal ratings of neighborhood disorder, predicted future offending behavior and association with antisocial peers. Putative relationships between neighborhood context, peers, and offending behavior were tested in all 1,725 adolescent members of the National Youth Survey. Consistent with the hypothesis that neighborhood context can either promote or inhibit the delinquent peer selection process, neighborhood disorder predicted peer selection (own offending → delinquent peers) but not peer influence (delinquent peers → own offending). Gender moderated this relationship such that an effect was found only for boys. These findings indicate that a negative psychological environment resulting from neighborhood disorder and weak informal social control can encourage offending behavior in neighborhood boys and facilitate the selection of antisocial peers. As with the parent–peer selection relationship observed in an earlier study on parental role modeling and youth offending, neighborhood climate has a bearing on future offending by virtue of its ability to support or block conditions known to suppress early delinquency and the formation of antisocial peer networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data to explore the co-evolution of friendship networks and delinquent behaviors. Using a stochastic actor–based (SAB) model, we simultaneously estimate the network structure, influence process, and selection process on adolescents in 12 small schools (N = 1,284) and 1 large school (N = 976) over three time periods. Our results indicate the presence of both selection and influence processes. Moderating effects were tested for density, centrality, and popularity, with only a weak interaction effect for density and influence in the small schools (p < .10). Contexts outside the school affected school networks: adolescents in the large school were particularly likely to form ties to others from equally disadvantaged neighborhoods, and adolescents in the small schools with more outside of school ties increased their delinquency over time. These findings support the importance of delinquency in peer selection and influence processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to analyze whether in-class friends influence each other's grades, and whether adolescents tend to select friends that are similar to them in terms of academic achievement. During 1 academic year, 542 eighth-grade students (Mage = 13.3 years) reported on 3 different occasions on their in-class friendship networks. At these occasions their report card grades for 3 subjects were copied from their files. We tested whether academic achievement functions as a selection criterion for friendship, and whether academic achievement is influenced by in-class friends, using social network analytic techniques. Socialization effects for Dutch and English language grades, but not for mathematics grades, were found. We found no support for selection effects of grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]