Adding valued data to social network measures: Does it add to associations with adolescent substance use?

This research examines whether adding information about adolescent friendships (feeling of closeness to friend, visits to friend's home, interaction outside school, and parent involvement in the friendship) to social network measures increases associations with adolescent substance use. In 2002, friendship nominations were obtained from more than 4700 students in grades 6 to 8 in 13 schools. Social network measures weighted and unweighted for the valued information were created from those data and compared. The findings suggest that, although non-valued network measures and ego substance use were associated, the valued network measures did not add to those associations.