Adolescent Friendships, BMI, and Physical Activity: Untangling Selection and Influence Through Longitudinal Social Network Analysis.

Bioecological theory suggests that adolescents' health is a result of selection and socialization processes occurring between adolescents and their microsettings. This study examines the association between adolescents' friends and health using a social network model and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 1,896, mean age = 15.97 years).

Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture, and immigration: examining the potential mechanisms underlying Mexican-origin adolescents' organized activity participation.

The integrative model for child development and ecodevelopmental theory suggest that macro factors, such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture, and immigration influence the settings in which adolescents engage. The goal of this investigation was to use a combination of deductive and inductive qualitative analysis to describe the mechanisms by which these macro factors might be related to Mexican-origin adolescents' participation in organized after-school activities. Qualitative data were collected through focus group interviews with 44 adolescents, 50 parents, and 18 activity leaders from 2 neighborhoods that varied in ethnic composition and average family income.

Intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in Mexican-origin youths' participation in organized activities: insights from mixed-methods.

Motivation theories suggest that parents are an integral support for adolescents' participation in organized activities. Despite the importance of parents, the field knows very little about how parents' own experiences in activities influence the participation of their adolescent children. The goals of this study were to examine (a) the patterns of intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in parents' activity participation during adolescence and their adolescents' activity participation, and (b) the processes underlying each of these patterns within Mexican-origin families.

The contribution of extracurricular activities to adolescent friendships: new insights through social network analysis.

Extracurricular activities are settings that are theorized to help adolescents maintain existing friendships and develop new friendships. The overarching goal of the current investigation was to examine whether coparticipating in school-based extracurricular activities supported adolescents' school-based friendships. We used social network methods and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether dyadic friendship ties were more likely to exist among activity coparticipants while controlling for alternative friendship processes, namely dyadic homophily (e.