Driving Under the Influence of Risky Peers: An Experimental Study of Adolescent Risk Taking

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Author(s)
Centifanti, Luna C Munoz
Modecki, Kathryn L
MacLellan, Susanne
Gowling, Helen
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
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Show full item recordAbstract
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 ...
View more >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.
View less >
View more >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.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Research on Adolescence
Volume
26
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Society for Research on Adolescence. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Driving Under the Influence of Risky Peers: An Experimental Study of Adolescent Risk Taking, Journal of Research on Adolescence, Volume26, Issue1, Pages 207-222, 2016, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12187. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms)
Subject
Social Work not elsewhere classified
Social Work
Psychology