Best Friends for Now: Friendship Network Stability and Adolescents' Life Course Goals

Finishing school and starting a family are among the most important life goals for young adults, with long term consequences for the life course. The cultural transmission of these goals is so widespread as to be nearly universal. Yet some adolescents fail to embrace them. This chapter advances the argument that the stability of friendship networks is positively related to the adoption of these life goals. The authors test this hypothesis using a large longitudinal social network study of middle and high school students. The chapter reports results indicating that youth who sustain friendships over time are relatively uncommon, and that friendship network stability is robustly and positively associated with educational and familial aspirations.