Digital deviancy training

• Adolescent-peer interactions increasingly take place on digital platforms. • Deviancy training has largely been understudied on social media. • The Transformation Framework serves as a guide for understanding digital deviancy training. • Conclusions highlight ways deviancy training may (or may not) be transformed on social media. Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which peer relationships play a central role in shaping engagement in problem behaviors. Peer interactions in the digital age have shifted from occurring mostly in-person in school and through extracurricular activities to online environments mostly free from adult monitoring. Deviancy training, a well-documented microsocial mechanism of peer influence that involves the immediate action and reaction patterns in which problem behaviors are learned and amplified, has received limited empirical attention in digital spaces. Guided by key the components of social media identified by the Transformation Framework of adolescent peer relations ( Nesi et al., 2018a , Nesi et al., 2018b ) – asynchronicity, permanence, publicness, availability, cue absence, quantifiability, and visualness – the current review explores how deviancy training may or may not be transformed in the digital age. Conclusions highlight ways in which deviancy training may function mostly similarly in online and offline spaces, ways in which deviancy training may be amplified quantitatively (e.g., reach in digital spaces), and key examples of how deviancy training may be qualitatively transformed in online environments, with implications for future research and socially-conscious platform design.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Developmental Review
Published
2026-03-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2026.101254
Primary Topic
Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Digital deviancy training

Michaeline Jensen, Gregory E. Chase
Developmental Review
Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
article

Digital deviancy training

Michaeline Jensen, Gregory E. Chase
article en

Abstract

• Adolescent-peer interactions increasingly take place on digital platforms. • Deviancy training has largely been understudied on social media. • The Transformation Framework serves as a guide for understanding digital deviancy training. • Conclusions highlight ways deviancy training may (or may not) be transformed on social media. Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which peer relationships play a central role in shaping engagement in problem behaviors. Peer interactions in the digital age have shifted from occurring mostly in-person in school and through extracurricular activities to online environments mostly free from adult monitoring. Deviancy training, a well-documented microsocial mechanism of peer influence that involves the immediate action and reaction patterns in which problem behaviors are learned and amplified, has received limited empirical attention in digital spaces. Guided by key the components of social media identified by the Transformation Framework of adolescent peer relations ( Nesi et al., 2018a , Nesi et al., 2018b ) – asynchronicity, permanence, publicness, availability, cue absence, quantifiability, and visualness – the current review explores how deviancy training may or may not be transformed in the digital age. Conclusions highlight ways in which deviancy training may function mostly similarly in online and offline spaces, ways in which deviancy training may be amplified quantitatively (e.g., reach in digital spaces), and key examples of how deviancy training may be qualitatively transformed in online environments, with implications for future research and socially-conscious platform design.

Developmental ReviewVol. 80
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 27%
Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.