In this experimental study, it was examined to what extent peers and sex were important predictors of risk taking behavior of adolescents. Participants were 140 Dutch adolescents (52.9% boys, 12-15 years) who completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) as a measure of risk taking behavior, either individually or in the presence of homogenous or heterogeneous peer groups. Results showed that (a) adolescents took significantly more risk when they completed the BART with peers than when they completed the risk taking task individually, (b) boys took significantly more risk when they completed the task with peers than girls but not when they completed the task individually, and (c) boys in “boy-only triads” revealed the strongest risk taking behavior compared with “mixed-girl triads” or “girl-only triads.” These results suggest that boys appear to be more susceptible to the influence of peers on risk taking behavior than girls.

This experiment investigated the effect of peer discouragement on adolescent risk taking. Overall, 269 Dutch adolescents aged 11-15 years completed a risk taking computer task in the presence of an e-confederate who demonstrated very little risk taking (passive peer discouragement) and/or sent risk-discouraging messages to participants (active peer discouragement). The results showed that, compared to a situation with no peer discouragement, adolescents took significantly less risk only when they encountered a combination of active and passive peer discouragement; hence, when peers practiced what they preached. No gender differences were found in the effect of passive and active peer discouragement on risk taking. The results showed that digital peer messages play a promising role in diminishing adolescent risk taking.

Introduction:In this experiment, we investigated the effect of active (pressure) and passive (imitation) peer encouragement on adolescent risk-taking and assessed gender differences. Method: The participants performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) with the same-sex econfederate. The experiment consisted of a 2 (passive encouragement: no/yes updates about the number of pumps of the e-confederate) by 2 (active encouragement: no/yes messages received from the e-confederate) by 2 (gender: girls/boys) by 3 (time: baseline/first message or update/ second message or update) mixed design. The participants comprised 138 Dutch secondaryschool students aged 11-19 years old of whom 46% boys. They were assigned to one of the four conditions: 1. neutral (e-confederate present), 2. passive (two updates received), 3. active (two messages received), or 4. combined (two updates and two messages received). Results: Only a significant main effect of passive peer encouragement and a significant interaction effect of passive peer encouragement*time were shown. The participants exposed to passive peer encouragement took significantly more risk compared to other participants. Moreover, adolescent risk-taking significantly increased after the first and second update compared to baseline (no update). Conclusion:The findings suggest that adolescents are more likely to engage in risk-taking because of passive rather than active peer encouragement. Thus, communication through text-based messages in which young people provide information solely about their own risk-taking may be an important aim of prevention and intervention programs.

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