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Peer influence is the hidden force that can make or break a young person’ s progress, says Dr Justin Dunne
F or many young people who arrive in supported accommodation, the immediate challenge isn’ t just finding a bed or accessing services – it’ s navigating a new social world. In hostels and shared houses, vulnerable young people live side by side with peers who carry their own traumas, coping strategies and survival behaviours. That proximity can be protective, but it can also accelerate harm. My qualitative study with a UK homelessness charity found peer influence to be one of the strongest predictors of deterioration in residential
settings. The mechanisms are subtle and social rather than clinical – acceptance, identity, boredom, and the need to belong. This means that understanding how peer dynamics operate in everyday life is essential for drug and alcohol workers who want to reduce harm and support recovery.
PEER INFLUENCE IN PRACTICE Peer influence in supported accommodation is rarely a dramatic, organised process. It’ s ordinary social life – conversations in the lounge, late-night smoking circles, shared trips to the shop, and the small rituals that create belonging. In that context, risky
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behaviours – substance use, criminal activity, self-harm – can be normalised and reinforced.
One young person in the study described it plainly:‘ I’ d smoked weed before, but when I first moved in, it was like … how am I going to fit in? Well, I’ ll go and ask them if they want a joint? And I’ m smoking more and more now.’
Staff also recognised the same dynamic from their perspective:‘ Hostel accommodation is not somewhere where a young person needs to be because you just get exposed to a lot of other young people, and I know myself that I learned a whole load of things that I probably shouldn’ t have learned as a kid because I wasn’ t living in a particular environment at home.’
These two perspectives capture the core problem – young people often escalate use not because of individual pathology alone, but because social belonging and identity formation push them toward behaviours that signal membership in the group.
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PEER DEVIANCY TRAINING Research on adolescent groups describes a process called peer deviancy training – the way peers reinforce antisocial talk and rehearse risky behaviours. In residential settings this can look like:
Rehearsal – joking about or planning where and when to use substances. Normalisation – repeated exposure makes use seem ordinary and low risk. Skill transfer – learning how to access substances, hide use from staff, or avoid consequences. Status dynamics – certain behaviours confer status within the group( such as being the one who can source drugs).
Because these interactions happen in informal, unmonitored spaces, they’ re easy to miss in formal risk assessments. Yet they can be decisive in whether a young person reduces use or spirals further.
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Vladimir Vladimirov / iStock |