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Analogue Study of Peer Influence on Risk-Taking Behavior in Older Adolescents

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Abstract

This experimental study aimed to examine whether adolescents act in a riskier manner in the presence of peers and whether peer presence alone influences risk behavior or if a direct influence process is necessary. Utilizing a behavioral task assessing risk-taking, 183 older adolescents (18–20 year olds) came to the laboratory alone once and then were randomized to one of three conditions as follows: alone, peers present, and peers encouraging. An interaction was found such that at baseline, there were no significant differences between the three conditions, but at the experimental session, there was a significant increase in risk task scores particularly for the encouraging condition. These findings challenge proposed models of the interaction between peer influence and risk taking by providing evidence that adolescents take more risks when being encouraged by peers, but that the presence of peers on its own does not lead to more risks than when completing the task alone.

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Notes

  1. In addition to these demographics variables, potential moderators were considered including resistance to peer influence, friendship quality, and risk-taking behavior. None were significant and thus results are not presented here.

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The project described was supported by grant number R36DA030541 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health. Reported data is from the first author's doctoral dissertation. The authors would like to thank Andres De Los Reyes and Monique Mitchell Turner for their contributions to the design of the study.

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Correspondence to Elizabeth K. Reynolds.

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Reynolds, E.K., MacPherson, L., Schwartz, S. et al. Analogue Study of Peer Influence on Risk-Taking Behavior in Older Adolescents. Prev Sci 15, 842–849 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0439-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0439-x

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