teens becoming more like their peers, whether that meant adopting higher or lower levels of substance use over time). This means that the predictive factors we identified were not simply indicators of a predilection toward higher substance use, but rather toward levels of substance use that were more in accord with peers' levels. This in turn increases the likelihood that what we observed was in fact the result of some sort of influence process, albeit potentially an indirect one. Nonetheless, the caveat remains that when we discuss peer influences, it is with recognition that such influences may take any of a variety of forms, some more direct than others.
