Criminological theorists have long recognized the importance of peer influence in the development and maintenance of delinquency during adolescence. The strong association between an adolescent's delinquent outcomes and those of his or her peers is one of the most consistent and reliable findings in delinquency studies (Elliot & Menard 1996; Matsueda & Anderson 1998; Haynie 2001). This association has been shown to be significant for several delinquent outcomes such as drug use (Jang 2002; Krohn et al. 1996), cigarette and alcohol use (Urberg et al. 1997), fighting (Rees & Pogarsky 201X ) and crime rates in general (Haynie 2002; Jang 1999). The breadth of research documenting the association between an adolescent's delinquency and that of his or her peers is impressive, but criminological theorists have begun to recognize that adolescent friendships may simply not achieve a consistent level of quality. , structure and/or influence once the transition from childhood to adolescence has been made. Matsueda and Anderson (1998:301) state: "... what is needed is a theory of crime that is combined with a theory of peer group formation... such a theory would incorporate models of friendship within a broader social organization and would explain how the structure of friendship networks operate…”.Elements of this type of thinking are found in classic theories of crime such as differential association theory and social learning theory the idea that adolescent relationships can vary in frequency, priority, intensity, and duration is important. Each recognizes that the quality of adolescent relationships can vary between friendships. Consequently, the delinquent actions of peers “will carry more weight if a person is exposed to them frequently, over a long period of time, and from an early age if they come from a significant person in their life” (Kurbin et al. 2009). However, classical theories of crime have been criticized for being of static nature, devoid of dynamic proposals for intra-individual change (Farrington 2005). Adding and subtracting friendships means that the number of friends in an adolescent's peer network may vary throughout the adolescent period. Additionally, new friendships in the early stages of development may be less intimate and have a lower level of emotional attachment. Less time may be spent doing activities with these friends and therefore the frequency of interaction with them may be lower than in more established relationships. But new friendships can become stable and gain importance in a teenager's life.