Characteristics of Friends - Subject Baseline

This measure appears in the following time-points: Baseline.

Related Construct

Friendships

Description of Measure

This set of questions focus on the subject's four closest friends and includes background questions about their history of arrest and mental health hospitalization as well as the level of contact the subject has with these friends. These questions are supplemented by a separate measure establishing the quality of the relationships with these friends (see the "friendship quality" measure).

We compute the following summary variables:

The proportion of the 4 closest friends who have been arrested [s0pfrarr]

Count of the number of friends arrested [s0frarr]
Count of the number of friends for which we have a report of arrest. That is, a count of the number of friends where the subject gives either a yes, no or "don't know" response. This serves as the denominator for the arrest proportion score [s0arrden]

(a proportion is used instead of a count because not all subjects have 4 friends)
The proportion of the 4 closest friends who have been in jail [s0pfrjai]

Count of the number of friends jailed [s0frjail]
Count of the number of friends for which we have a report for being jailed. As above, this is a count of the number of friends where the subject gives either a yes, no or "don't know" response. This serves as the denominator for the jailed proportion score [s0jaiden]

The proportion of the 4 closest friends who have been in a mental hospital [s0pfrmho]

Count of the number of friends in a mental hospital [s0frmhos]
Count of the number of friends for which we have a report for being in a mental hospital. As above, this is a count of the number of friends where the subject gives either a yes, no or "don't know" response. This serves as the denominator for the mental hospital proportion score [s0mhoden]

The following individual items are also available:

Number of close friends the subject reports having, found in: [s0rel253]
Age of each friend, found in: [S0AgeFr], [S0AgeFr2], [S0AgeFr3], [S0AgeFr4]
Whether each friend has ever been arrested, found in: [S0ArrFr], [S0ArrFr2], [S0ArrFr3], [S0ArrFr4]
Whether each friend has ever been jailed, found in: [S0JaiFr], [S0JaiFr2], [S0JaiFr3], [S0JaiFr4]
Gender of each friend, found in: [S0GenFr], [S0GenFr2], [S0GenFr3], [S0GenFr4]
Whether each friend has ever been in a mental hospital, found in: [S0MHosFr], [S0MHosF2], [S0MHosF3], [S0MHosF4]
Frequency of contact with each friend, found in: [S0ContFr], [S0ContF2], [S0ContF3], [S0ContF4]

Data Issues

This measure was only administered if the subject reported having at least one friend (established in variable s0rel253).
Additional items obtain information about their history of drug use and mental health hospitalization. History of drug use items were added to the interview in version 01.16 and mental health hospitalization were added in version 01.17. Both are available only at the follow-up timepoints.

References

Items are an adaptation of: Pierce, G.P. (1994) the quality of relationships inventory: Assessing the interpersonal context of social support. In B.R. Burleson, T.L Albrecht & I.G. Sarason (Eds.), Communication of social support: Message, interactions, relationship and community (pp 247-266). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Pierce, G., Sarason, I.G., Sarason, B.R., Solky-Butzel, J.A., and Nagle, L.C. (1997). Assessing the quality of personal relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 339-356.