The mixed company they keep: Potentially offensive sexual behaviours among adolescents
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Anne Lacasse; Morton J. Mendelson; Kelly T. Purdy
- Source
- International Journal of Behavioral Development. 27:532-540
- Subject
- Social Psychology
Social network
business.industry
Personality development
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
Offensive
050109 social psychology
Friendship network
Social relation
Education
Developmental psychology
050106 general psychology & cognitive sciences
Friendship
Developmental Neuroscience
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Harassment
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Adolescent development
Life-span and Life-course Studies
business
Psychology
Social psychology
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
media_common
- Language
- ISSN
- 1464-0651
0165-0254
This study investigated the incidence and tolerance of potentially offensive sexual behaviours in relation to the gender composition of adolescents’ friendship networks. High-school students (Grades 8 and 11) self-reported on the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire—High School and on the Social Network Form. Adolescents whose friendship network included a relatively greater proportion of other-sex friends tended to be those who experienced some form of potentially offensive sexual behaviours. However, tolerance (i.e., lack of upset) of these behaviours was not related to the gender composition of the friendship network. Moderate behaviours were perpetrated mostly by boys to both sexes, whereas severe behaviours were perpetrated by other-sex peers. The discussion addresses how sexual harassment in adolescence might be conceptualised.