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One of the most prominent concerns that American adults express about adolescence as a life stage is the power of peer influence. Journalists who have immersed themselves in the adolescent social world and practitioners working with troubled youth point to the preeminence of peer relations and the challenges they pose for mental health of male and female teenagers (Gurian, 1998; Hersch, 1998; Perlstein, 2003; Pipher, 1994). Researchers report that one of the strongest predictors of adolescent delinquency is the delinquency level of close friends (Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985). Peers also seem to contribute to health-compromising behaviors such as drug use or risky sexual activity (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Kandel, 1985; Rodgers & Rowe, 1993). Such findings have sparked considerable interest in prevention and intervention programs that can thwart the ability of peers to lead children and adolescents into problem behavior. To ward off the undesirable influences of peers, it seems imperative to know how these influences operate. Surprisingly few studies, however, have focused on the specific processes by which peers affect individual behavior in adolescence. The failure to scrutinize the peer influence process has not deterred researchers or practitioners from making assumptions or assertions about how it works. Peer pressure is the most common term used to de-