Abstract

This study examined whether adolescents’ perceptions that specific classmates drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes are associated with friendship and popularity nominations toward those classmates, beyond the classmates’ own self-reported substance use. Two-wave longitudinal classroom network data were used from the SNARE project, collected in October and December of 2012 from 34 Dutch classrooms (N = 675; mean age at Wave 1 = 14.33 years; 47.7% girls). At both waves, students nominated their best friends, classmates they perceived as popular, and classmates they believed drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes. Peer-perceived use refers to these classmate-specific nominations of who drinks or smokes. Students also reported their own alcohol and cigarette use. Bayesian multiplex stochastic actor-oriented models were estimated separately for alcohol and smoking to model changes in friendship, popularity, and peer-perceived substance-use networks. Adolescents were more likely to send friendship nominations to classmates whom they perceived as drinkers or smokers, even after adjusting for those classmates’ selfreported use. Peer-perceived use was not associated with sending popularity nominations to those classmates. In contrast, classmates who self-reported drinking, but not smoking, received more popularity nominations than classmates who did not self-report drinking. These findings suggest that peer perceptions of substance use are especially relevant for friendship selection, whereas self-reported drinking may better capture substance-related behavior linked to broader popularity in the classroom.