The journal article, “Peer Influence on Risk Taking, Risk Preference, and Risky Decision Making in Adolescence and Adulthood: An Experimental Study”, was written by Margo Gardner and Laurence Steinburg of Temple University. This article will discuss 3 different age groups teens (13-16), youth (18-22), and adults (24 and older) to participate in a risk preference and risky decision-making questionnaire by themselves or with 2 same-aged peers.
The findings show that:
- risk taking and risky decision making decreases with age;
- the participants took more risks, focused more on the benefits than the costs of risky behavior and made riskier decisions when in a peer group than by themselves;
- the peers effects on risk taking and risky decision making is more prevalent in teens and youth than adults.
These findings support the idea that adolescents are more inclined toward risky behavior and risky decision making than are adults and that peer influence plays an important role in explaining risky behavior during adolescence (Gardner & Steinburg, 2005).
The sample of this experiment included 106 teens (54 girls and 52 boys), 105 youths (53 women and 52 men), and 95 adults (48 women and 47 men). All of the recruits were from areas around a major urban area. The teens were recruited from middle schools, day camps, and community centers; the youth were recruited from undergraduate intro psychology courses at a large urban university; and the adults were recruited through fliers posted at an urban university, and community colleges (Gardner & Steinburg, 2005).
Between the teens and adults there was a significant decline in both taking risks and decision making. Additionally, their findings suggest that in some situations, individuals may take more risks, evaluate risky behavior more positively and make more risky decisions when they are with their peers then when they are by themselves (Gardner & Steinburg, 2005).
The effects of peer presence on both risk taking and risky decision making vary as a function of age. The study also found that more teens and adults are more susceptible to the influence of their peers in risky situations.
In conclusion, the difference of the risk taking of the group risk taking with teens versus the adults are not the difference in the number of teens and adults spend with their peers, but it is the age difference among the participants. Based on this study the presence of peers makes teens and youth, but not adults, more likely to take risks and more likely to make risky decisions.
