Explaining youth aggression: A situational model of peer influence

Youth aggression is an international public health problem that has major consequences for victims and perpetrators. Given the social nature of aggression, understanding the situational role of peers is critical for informing effective prevention strategies. However, traditional research on situational peer influence has been limited by the neglect of the person–environment interaction and the failure to theorise the action decision making process. This article responds to these challenges by applying and developing situational action theory (SAT) to theorise the situational mechanisms and conditions of peer influence. The situational model of peer influence presented in this article moves beyond traditional rational choice approaches by integrating interdisciplinary research on situational peer effects with SAT's dual-process model. This model specifies how and why the presence of aggressive peers influences the action decision making process that leads to aggressive behaviour. This article also describes the Peer Relations and Social Behaviour (PEERS) space-time budget method which is a recent methodological innovation that can be used to test this theoretical model. It concludes by outlining the main practical implications for the prevention of youth aggression.