Evidence from an exciting integration between peer influence research and recent innovative developments in the study of adolescent “peer-perceived popularity” (Cillessen & Rose, 2005; Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, 1998) has suggested that peer influence indeed seems to be associated with behaviors linked to high-status peers. When conceptualizing peer status as a reputation-based measure reflecting dominance, positions on the social hierarchy, and access to resources, investigators revealed that many of the behaviors especially relevant to peer influence (i.e., aggressive and health-risk behaviors) are associated with high status—specifically, popularity—among peers (Mayeux, Sandstrom, & Cillessen, 2008; Prinstein, Meade, & Cohen, 2003; Rancourt & Prinstein, 2010). Affiliation with adolescents high in peer-perceived popularity and exposure to the behavioral norms of these peers are associated with increases in adolescents’ own engagement in aggressive behavior (Prinstein & Cillessen, 2003; Rose, Swenson, & Waller, 2004) as well as several health-risk behaviors, including maladaptive weight-related behaviors (Rancourt & Prinstein, 2010). Longitudinal work by Juvonen and Ho (2008) demonstrated that middle school students who associated peer-directed aggressive behavior with high social status (coolness) in the first semester of middle school
