Primary Socialization Theory: It All Begins With the Family

• NCJ Number: 178358
• Journal: Substance Use and Misuse Volume: 34 Issue: 7 Dated: 1999 Pages: 1025-1032
• Author(s): Les B. Whitbeck Ph.D.
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA 10049; MH50140
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This commentary on primary socialization theory emphasizes the centrality of family processes on adolescents' affiliation with deviant peers and subsequent deviant behaviors.

Abstract

Primary socialization theory integrates the proximal sources of childhood socialization into a single, comprehensive theoretical model. Conceptually, it embeds the adolescent in a threefold socialization process composed of family, school, and peer clusters. Although the model points to the primacy of the family, particularly in early childhood, the mechanisms through which the family influences child outcomes deserve more thorough discussion. The primacy of what occurs in the family and its consequences for school adjustment and peer associations seems diminished in the multiple socialization wheel that composes the adolescent portion of the model. From a family perspective, school adjustment problems and the drift into nonconventional peer associations are outcomes of interactions and behavioral processes that originate in the parent-child relationship. Specifically, maladaptive behaviors and coercive/aggressive interaction styles that are learned in the family are accentuated and amplified when these behaviors and interaction styles are taken outside the family into school rooms and onto playgrounds. From a family perspective, therefore, the primary socialization model would be more linear and less circular even when the child reaches adolescence. This model is based on a sample of 257 runaway adolescents, whose experiences and behaviors show that the effects of an abusive family on adolescent behaviors are largely transmitted through affiliation with deviant peers. The author concludes that primary socialization theory would be strengthened by greater emphasis on the persistent influence of family on adolescent behaviors. Implications of this model for family-based prevention programs are discussed. 1 figure, 2 tables, and 12 references