Présentation affichée lors du “20th Biennal ISSBD meeting”
L’ISSBD (International society for the study of behavioural development) organise un colloque intitulé 20th biennal ISSBD meeting” qui se tiendra à l’université de Würzburg en Allemagne du 13 au 17 juillet. Durant ce colloque je présenterais un poster de mes recherches intitulé:
“Are Children´s Health Risk Related to their Position in the Peer Network”. Cécile Bazillier, Pascal Mallet, Jean-François Verlhiac.
Le résumé soumis était le suivant:
Adolescents whose friends display non-healthy behavior are more at risk to develop non-healthy behavior. Peer influence as well as peer selection account for this observation (Brown, Dolcini, & Leventhal, 1997). This was found by identifying friendship groups through sociometric procedures (e.g. Donohew et al., 1999). Although these procedures have been used successfully with school-age children (e.g., Sage & Kinderman, 1999), the relation between health risk behavior and peer clustering has not been evidenced in this age range. This was the aim of the present study.
The health risk of interest in the present study consists of children’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral willingness toward smoking and eating misbehavior. We focused on these two misbehaviors, because they increase the likelihood for individuals to develop a cancer, and the data we will present are collected as the first step of a longitudinal study funded by an important French association fighting against cancer. We hypothesize that children who belong to the same friendship group will be more similar than classmates in general, regarding these health risk variables.
The participants are 1,000 8-to-9-year-old children leaving in Paris suburb. Peer clustering data are obtained by asking children to name up to three preferred classmates. Attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral willingness toward smoking and eating misbehavior are assessed through a self-report questionnaire. Peer clustering data will be analyzed using the UCINET procedure (Borgatti, Everett, & Freeman, 1999). In the discussion, we will compare our results with those obtained with adolescents in other countries.
à bientôt,
Cécile Bazillier
