Behavioral Intervention, Vol. 9, No. 2,87-92 (1994)

USING SOCIOMETRIC MEASURES TO PREDICT HELP SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF YOUTH IN A POSITIVE PEER

CULTURE PROGRAM

James Vincent, Daniel Houlihan and Patricia Mitchell Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 11 6 Bancroft Hall, Lincoln, Nebraska

68588-0345 USA

Sociometric measures were used to predict help seeking behaviors of youth in a residential treat- ment center. Seventeen female adolescents with conduct disorders were asked to choose three peers in their group who were most popular, similar, and competent. These sociometric measures were correlated with the degree to which the participants would seek help from their peers across four problem scenarios representing actual situations encountered in residential settings. A multiple linear regression analysis suggested that sociometric measures of “competence” was the best predictor of intentions to seek help across the problem scenarios. Discussion focused on the implications of using sociometric measures within a residential treatment setting.

Several authors have expressed the need to develop an ecological approach in the treatment of adolescents in residential settings (Gutterman & Blythe, 1986; Hobbs, 1966; Termini, 1991). The ecological model emphasizes the import- ance of community integration rather than isolating youth from their natural environments. It focuses on the interdependence of the residential facility, home, school, peers, and the student. An important assumption is that alterations in one environment may influence behavior in other settings. The goal of residen- tial treatment is to identify these important environmental elements and modify them in ways that have a positive impact on the youth.

Alterations of peer interactions may be an important component when im- plementing an ecological approach to residential treatment. Peers often exert powerful influences on behavior within residential and school settings (Strain, 1981; Vorrath & Brendtro, 1985). Many times, this influence is negative as one child’s acting out behaviors can become contagious to others directly inter-

* Address editorial correspondence to: James Vincent, MA, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Educational Psychology, 116 Bancroft Hall,Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0345, USA

James Vincent is currently a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Daniel Houlihan, Ph.D is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Mankato University, Mankato, MN. Patricia Mitchell is the Executive Director of Forest Ridge Community Youth Center, Estherville, IA.

CCC 0084558 1/94/020087-06 0 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

88 J. Vincent et al.

fering with the treatment process (Small, Kennedy, & Bender, 1991). Positive Peer Culture (PPC) is a comprehensive residential treatment program that cir- cumvents negative peer interactions by developing a social environment that supports prosocial behaviors and values (Vorrath & Brendtro , 1985). Within this approach, staff actively reinforce helping behaviors (e.g., convincing a peer not to run away) while negative peer influences are labeled as “weak” or “hurt- ful.”

An important advantage of PPC is that the peer contingencies that exist within the residential facility can also be utilized to support prosocial behaviors in the community and school environments (Vincent et al. 1993). Exposure to such “normalized” events during treatment may increase the likelihood of generalization of newly learned behaviors and facilitate the difficult transition to the home setting following discharge (Quay, 1986; Stokes & Baer, 1977; Whittaker & Pecora, 1984).

A primary concern within the positive peer culture approach is to identify students who are the most influential within their peer group. Vincent, Houlihan, and Mitchell (1992) investigated the degree to which sociometric measures pre- dicted the frequency to which peers were nominated as “most helpful” within a PPC residential program. Results suggested that sociometric measures of “popularity” was the greatest predictor of most helpful nominations. The cur- rent study was conducted in order to identify factors that predict the intentions of residents to seek help from peers within a PPC program. These potential factors include sociometric measures of popularity, similarity, and competence. Based on previous research, it is hypothesized that popularity will be the most powerful predictor of help seeking behaviors.

METHOD

Seventeen female adolescents aged 13-17 years participated in this study. These subjects resided in a long-term residential treatment center in the Midwest. The average age of the participants was 15 years. The average length of place- ment for the youth was 6 months with a range of 1-11 months. All of the adolescents met the minimal criteria for conduct disorder as defined by the DSM 111-R including behaviors such as running away, breaking curfew, stealing, lying, and fighting.

Setting The residential facility contained three units each serving 15 female adoles-

cents. The facility provided 24-h supervision and had a 1 5 staff to client ratio.

Sociometric measures 89

The primary treatment approach of the facility was based on positive peer culture (Vorrath & Brendtro, 1985).

Procedure Sociometric measures

Participants were asked to choose the three peers in their residential group (N = 15) who they judged to be most popular, most similar to themselves, and most competent. Measures of competence were obtained by asking partici- pants to choose the three peers they judged to have made the most progress in their treatment program. The sociometric measures included the frequency in which each peer from the three treatment groups (N = 45) was nominated as popular, similar, and competent.

Problem Scenarios Approximately 24 hr following the collection of the sociometric measures,

the participants were asked to respond to four problem scenarios by rating how likely it was they would seek help from the peers in their group. A 5-point likert scale was used with rating of “1” indicated “not likely” while a rating of “5” represented “very likely.” The problem scenarios included four situations often encountered by youth in residential treatment including: (a) you are angry about losing your weekend privileges; (b) you had an argument with a teacher at school and you are afraid to go back to class; (c) you are having problems making friends at school; and (d) you are thinking about running away.

RESULTS

A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted in a forced entry fashion with peer intentions to seek help (collapsed across the four problem scenarios) as the dependent variable and the three sociometric measures as the independent variables. Sociometric measures of competence was entered first, followed by similarity, and then popularity. Results indicated that this equation accounted for a significant proportion of variability with intentions to seek help, F (3, 36) = 5 . 9 4 , ~ < .01.

Table 1 shows that at step 1 of the analysis, measures of competence incre- mented R2 significantly (p < .001). Step 2 of the analysis showed that the addition of similarity into the equation failed to increment R2 significantly. Finally, the inclusion of popularity into the equation also failed to increment R2 significantly.

90 J. Vincent et al.

TABLE 1. Summary of multipe regression predicting intentions to seek help from peers. ~

Indeuendent variable d f R’ cha F-cha U

Competence Similarity Popularity

1 .3065 16.796 .0002 1 .3083 ,002 .7574 I .3310 ,022 ,2765

Total equation F(3,36) = 5 . 9 4 , ~ < .0024

A final concern was to investigate whether intentions to seek help varied across the four problem situations. Results showed that “running away” was rated the most likely situation for peers to seek help (M = 3.47) followed by “argument with a teacher” (M = 3.32), “angry about losing weekend privi- leges” (M = 3.21), and “making friends” (M = 3.18). A one-way-analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between these four problem situa- tions (F3, 136 = .37,p = .77).

DISCUSSION

The purpose of the current analysis was to identify factors that determine intentions to seek help from peers in a residential treatment center. Previous research has suggested that sociometric measures of popularity predicted the frequency in which peers are nominated as helpful (Vincent et al., 1992). Con- trary to this result, the current study suggests that “competence” may be more important in determining help seeking behaviors of youth in a positive peer culture program. In general, peers indicated higher intentions to seek help from those who were perceived as making the most treatment progress across the four problem situations. An additional observation is that intentions to seek help did not vary as a function of problem situation. Participants were equally likely to seek help across all four conditions presented.

These observations can be explained within a social learning framework (Ban- dura, 1977; 1982). According to this view, individuals are more likely to engage in behaviors which have greater likelihood of producing positive or rewarding outcomes. This “functional value of behavior” has been shown to predict the effectiveness of peer modeling interventions. For example, Schunk (1987) has shown that perceived competence of models overrides the influence of other person variables including similarity, age, and sex when teaching new skills or behaviors. One possible explanation is that those who are rated as making the most treatment progress are perceived by peers as being the most likely to produce positive solutions to problems. An alternative explanation is that

Sociometric measures 91

youth within the PPC program are reinforced for seeking help from “senior residents” and are discouraged for the same behavior with new arrivals or youth experiencing difficulties. Additional research is needed to determine the role of staff on influencing peer interactions within residential settings.

Future research may focus on several areas of interest in regard to interper- sonal influences within residential settings. Similar methodology can be utilized to determine important variables that predict help seeking behavior of youth towards counselors. Possible interpersonal variables may include attractiveness, credibility, and trustworthiness (Petty & Cacioppo 198 1). The frequency in which staff use punishment and reinforcement may also influence help seeking behaviors of youth in residential treatment (Kazdin, 1989). According to this model, staff who become a “conditioned positive stimulus” (by repeated use of reinforcement) will elicit help seeking behaviors while those who are re- peatedly paired with “punishment” will produce escape behaviors.

In summary, sociometric measures can be useful in matching youth with the most effective behavior change agents within a residential treatment center. The current study suggests that peers are more likely to seek help from those perceived as “competent” by way of treatment progress. The implication is that senior residents may be the most effective peer helpers within a PPC pro- gram. These peer contingencies can be used to support prosocial behaviors in the community and school environments (Vincent et al., 1993). Such a pro- gram is consistent with the “ecological perspective” which emphasizes com- munity integration and exposure to normalized events (Gutterman & Blythe, 1986; Hobbs, 1966; Termini, 1991).

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