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Driving Under the Influence of Risky Peers: An Experimental Study of Adolescent Risk Taking
Author(s) -
Centifanti Luna C. Muñoz,
Modecki Kathryn L.,
MacLellan Susanne,
Gowling Helen
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.12187
Subject(s) - psychology , preference , psychological intervention , variance (accounting) , peer group , task (project management) , social psychology , affect (linguistics) , multilevel model , peer effects , developmental psychology , applied psychology , computer science , statistics , engineering , mathematics , accounting , systems engineering , communication , psychiatry , business , machine learning
Both passive and active social influences may affect adolescents' dangerous driving. In this study, we used an experimental paradigm to delineate these two influences with actual peers. Adolescents completed a simulated driving task, and we measured risk preferences of each member of the peer group. We used hierarchical linear modeling to partition variance in risky decisions. Adolescents experienced many more crashes when they had “passengers” present who reported a strong preference for risk taking and who actively provided decision‐making guidance. Although youth in the passive peer condition were also influenced by the riskiness of their peers, this relation was less strong relative to the active condition. We discuss the need for interventions focussing on active and passive peer influence.