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A Twin Study of Objective and Subjective Pubertal Timing and Peer Influence on Risk‐Taking
Author(s) -
Kretsch Natalie,
Mendle Jane,
Harden Kathryn Paige
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12160
Subject(s) - psychology , menarche , operationalization , developmental psychology , association (psychology) , nomination , longitudinal study , adolescent health , peer group , test (biology) , twin study , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , heritability , paleontology , philosophy , genetics , nursing , epistemology , pathology , sociology , political science , law , psychotherapist , biology
This study used a behavioral genetic design to test whether three measures of pubertal timing moderated peer influence on risk‐taking in a sample of 248 female adolescent twin pairs ( M age = 16.0, SD = 1.5) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Peer influence was operationalized as the quasi‐causal association between girls' self‐reported risk‐taking and the risk‐taking reported by their friends. Girls with earlier ages at menarche and who perceived themselves as more developed than peers were more susceptible to peer influence on risk‐taking. However, age‐standardized ratings of body changes did not moderate peer influence. This study highlights distinctions between multiple measures of pubertal timing, using an innovative synthesis of genetically informative data and peer nomination data.