Honors Projects

Abstract

This study is focused on understanding how adolescent romantic partners influence drug use trajectories into young adulthood utilizing the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS). By utilizing a theoretical framework based on social networks theory and Elder’s life course perspective (Elder 1998) our analysis emphasizes social influences among adolescents and their longitudinal changes. This analysis is focused on two hypotheses: (H1) adolescents mimic the drug use behaviors of their romantic partner, and (H2) this mimicry will stop and the influence of this partner will dissipate as an adolescent ages into young adulthood. Using Waves 1 through 5 of TARS, collected between 2001 and 2011, logistic regression models estimate associations between partner and respondent drug use, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Results show that both hypotheses are supported, with a romantic partner’s drug use behaviors being highly influential for and adolescent’s own drug use behaviors, meanwhile it is also seen that this influence dies out once that adolescent reaches young adulthood. These findings highlight the importance that a romantic partner plays as a principal socializing agent for adolescents while also providing an understanding for how this importance shifts, and weakens, as individuals age.

Department

Sociology

Major

Sociology

First Advisor

Monica Longmore

First Advisor Department

Sociology

Second Advisor

Meagan Docherty

Second Advisor Department

Psychology

Publication Date

Winter 12-8-2025

Download

Share

COinS