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Abstract This study examines whether having delinquent friends interacts with other peer-related variables in the explanation of adolescent offending. We hypothesise that the relationship between delinquent friends and offending might be conditioned by the effect of (1) how much time they spend with their friends, (2) how much time they spend in unstructured routine activities and (3) their emotional relationship with their friends. To test these three hypotheses we use data from two independent samples of young adolescents in Halmstad, Sweden (N = 1,003) and in Cologne and Freiburg, Germany (N = 955). The results found strong support that the effect of delinquent friends on adolescent offending is conditional on the level of time they spend in unstructured routine activities. This indicates that delinquent friends have a stronger effect on offending for adolescents who often spend their free time in unstructured routine activities.

Introduction One of the best-known findings in delinquency research is that adolescents with delinquent friends are more likely to engage in delinquency themselves (e.g. Elliott et al., 1985, Haynie & Osgood, 2005, Svensson, 2003, Warr, 2002 and Weerman, 2004). One point of discussion has been whether the association should be seen as a mere selection effect (Glueck & Glueck, 1950, Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990 and Hirschi, 1969) or as a ‘true’ causal effect of social influence (Akers, 1998, Burgess & Akers, 1966 and Sutherland & Cressey, 1955). Empirical evidence from longitudinal studies increasingly support the view that the association reflects both a selection effect and a causal effect (e.g. Erickson et al., 2000, Espelage et al., 2003, Haynie, 2001, Jaccard et al., 2005, Kandel, 1996, Matsueda & Anderson, 1998, Thornberry et al., 1994 and Weerman, 2004; but see Knecht et al., 2010). Another point of discussion concerns the consequences of this general insight. Since we know that delinquent friends increases the risk of delinquency it is relevant to better understand why delinquent friends are important, for whom delinquent friends are important and how delinquent friends matter. However, as of today, very little attention has been paid to these questions of mechanisms and conditions of peer effects ( Haynie, 2001). In particular, the question whether delinquent friends interact with other peer related variables in the explanation of offending remains largely unsolved. It has however been suggested that the relationship between delinquent friends and offending is conditioned by the level of how much time adolescents spend with their friends, where they are when they spend their time and the character (positive or negative) of their emotional relations to their friends ( Agnew, 1991, Haynie, 2001, Haynie & Osgood, 2005 and Sutherland & Cressey, 1955). This study follows this reasoning by examining whether the effect of delinquent friends is conditioned by the effect of how much time they spend with their friends, how much time they spend in unstructured routine activities, and by their emotional relationship with their friends. Delinquent friends in social learning and routine activity theories The relationship between offending and delinquent friends is mostly seen in the framework of social learning theory which assumes that delinquent friends influence adolescents by transmitting and reinforcing deviant norms condoning and encouraging norm-breaking behavior (Akers, 1998, Sutherland & Cressey, 1955 and Warr, 2002). Whether the effect of delinquent friends on offending is conditioned by other peer-related variables – i.e. the emotional bond they have with them and how much time they spend with them in which environments – will be discussed below. Adolescents who often spend their free time with friends have an increased risk of offending by rendering offending easier and more rewarding by their friends (Osgood et al., 1996). In addition, it has been argued that the more time adolescent spend with delinquent friends the more these friends will act as role models, transmitting delinquent values and rewarding their behaviour (Agnew, 1991; Haynie & Osgood, 2005). Agnew (1991) found, amongst other things, that the effect of delinquent friends on offending is stronger if adolescents spend a large amount of time with their friends. Using data from the ‘Add Health’ Study, Haynie and Osgood (2005) found, on the other hand, no empirical evidence for the assumption that delinquent friends interact with the amount of time they spend with friends. In addition, routine activity theory stresses that spending time in unstructured routine activities with friends in the absence of authority figures increases the risk of offending because adolescents find themselves more often in situations that increase the risk of offending (Cohen & Felson, 1979 and Haynie & Osgood, 2005). The absence of authority figures reduces the level of social control (Birkbeck & LaFree, 1993, Osgood & Anderson, 2004 and Osgood et al., 1996). Accordingly, it can be assumed that the more time adolescents spend with delinquent friends in unstructured routine activities, the higher the risk of offending, both because delinquent friends act as role models and because of the lack of social control. In a study among Icelandic youth, Thorlindsson and Bernburg (2006) found that the effect of drug using friends on drug use decreases with higher levels of involvement in structured activities (sports and social clubs) and that the effect increases with higher levels of involvement in unstructured activities (party). Considering attachment to friends, however, the picture is less clear. Some scholars found empirical evidence for a positive relationship between attachment to friends and offending, other scholars for a negative relationship, while still others did not find any direct effect on offending (Agnew, 1991, Elliott et al., 1985, Giordano et al., 1986, Haynie & Osgood, 2005, Hirschi, 1969 and Ring, 1999). Agnew (1991) has argued that if the emotional relationship is well developed, delinquent friends will be more attractive as role models resulting in an increased risk that an individual will imitate the group. He also found that attachment to friends interacts with the delinquency of friends in the explanation of offending, indicating that delinquent friends have a stronger effect on offending if the bonds are well-developed (Agnew, 1991). Yet, again, Haynie and Osgood (2005) found no empirical evidence that delinquent friends interact with the level of bonds to their friends. Summing up previous research, there are good theoretical reasons for examining whether the effect of delinquent friends on adolescent offending is conditioned by the amount of time they spend with their friends, where they spend this time, and the quality of their emotional relationship. Only a few empirical studies have focused on these questions and contradictory findings have been reported. Against this background, we will build on previous research by further examining the conditional effects of delinquent friends on offending. Three hypotheses will be addressed in this study.

Conclusion Using data from two independent samples in Halmstad (Sweden) and Cologne and Freiburg (Germany), we find empirical support of a strong interaction effect between delinquent friends and unstructured routine activities in the explanation of adolescent offending. This result is in line with our hypothesis and indicates that delinquent friends are more strongly involved in the genesis of crime if adolescents spend a high amount of time in unstructured routine activities. Adolescents who never or rarely spend their free time in unstructured routine activities will be induced by delinquent friends to offend to a lesser extent. Thorlindsson and Bernburg (2006), too, found support of this interaction in the explanation of drug use. We could not find any support of any interaction between delinquent friends and time spent with friends. This is in line with Haynie and Osgood (2005), who did not find this interaction using a measure of time spent with friends without any contextual details. Agnew (1991), on the other hand, found empirical evidence of an interaction between delinquent friends and time spent with friends. It is worth mentioning that Agnew (1991) did not control for the measure of unstructured routine activities. We could not find any support for the notion that the emotional relationship with friends might condition the effect of delinquent friends on offending. This is in line with the results by Haynie and Osgood (2005). On the other hand, Agnew (1991) found that the effect of delinquent friends on offending is larger when the bonds to them are better developed. The finding that the relationship between delinquent friends and offending is conditioned by where they are when they spend their time supports the view that adolescent offending is best explained by the co-occurrence of distinctive social and situational factors condoning and facilitating crime. Routine activities offer opportunities for delinquent acts in situations of poor supervision and therefore contribute to the likelihood of offending. However, these activities cannot explain delinquent acts alone, in the complete absence of other crucial causal dimensions of delinquency, one important of which are delinquent friends. This broader conclusion supports recent theoretical efforts to conceptualize adolescent crime primarily as a product of the interaction on different levels of individual, social and situational influences (Dodge et al., 2008, Wikström, 2006 and Wikström, 2010). It is interesting to notice that there is no interaction between delinquent friends and time spent with friends. Time spent with friends in general does not give any information about where adolescents spend their free time and what they do, i.e. they could actually do their homework with their friends as well as “hang out” on the streets. We would therefore maintain that it is more important to know the specifics of adolescents’ time spent with friends than just the fact that they are with their friends. This study provides support for the view that offending cannot be explained by considering only who you spend your time with or where you are, but rather requires a focus on where you are and with whom you are there with. Our findings are in line with routine activity theory which stresses the situational aspects of spending time with delinquent friends, especially unsupervised and unstructured, which is thought to result in a rise of criminogenic opportunities and actual offending (Cohen & Felson, 1979 and Haynie & Osgood, 2005). However, our findings contradict the notion that opportunity has an unconditional effect on offending. Adolescents without any affiliations to delinquent peers are not more likely to offend only because they are in situations which offer opportunities to commit crimes and lack supervision by adults. Haynie and Osgood (2005, cf. Osgood et al., 1996) claim that ‘even peers who are not especially delinquent will often react positively to the excitement, conspicuous consumption, and toughness inherent in most delinquent acts’, referring to Matza's notion of ‘subterranean values’ inherent in the norms of the conventional society. The findings of our analyses suggest otherwise: The urge to break the law and commit crimes is not a ubiquitous element of mainstream culture, not even of adolescent culture, but depends on the co-occurrence of situational factors which present opportunities for and facilitate crime, and of social and personal factors which help to legitimize, rationalize and support deviant behaviours. Having delinquent friends and spending time with them is one of these social factors. We argue that it is important for further research to take into account the importance of situational factors as unstructured routine activities in the explanation of offending and to test for their interactions with relevant predictors of delinquency such as delinquent friends (cf. Wikström et al., in press). Only few studies so far have focussed on this question, and attempts should be made to replicate these results in future research, also considering methodological shortcomings of our study which we address at the end of this paper. One limitation of this study is the cross-sectional nature of its data which restricts its analytical potential with respect to the causal order of effects. It would be desirable to use longitudinal data in future studies. Another more specific limitation is our use of the conventional measurement of delinquent friends. Alternative measurements based on network-generated information from the self-reports of the friends as used in e.g. Add Health study (e.g. Haynie & Osgood, 2005) may provide more realistic data on delinquent friends. Comparing conventional measurements with network-generated measurements, Weerman and Smeenk (2005) have shown that the correlation between delinquency and delinquent friends is grossly overestimated using the conventional measurement. Thus, if delinquent friends is in part an implicit measurement of one's own delinquency, then not only the effect of delinquent friends on delinquency, but also the interaction terms including delinquent friends may be inflated to the extent that this variable is confounded with the outcome (self-reported delinquency). Therefore replications of our analysis are needed using new, improved measurements of delinquent peers.