TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - The effect of active and passive peer encouragement on adolescent risk-taking
JO  - Journal of Adolescence
A1  - Harakeh, Zeena
A1  - de Boer, Anouk
SP  - 10
EP  - 17
VL  - 71
IS  - 
N2  - INTRODUCTION: In this experiment, we investigated the effect of active (pressure) and passive (imitation) peer encouragement on adolescent risk-taking and assessed gender differences. <br><br>METHOD: The participants performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) with the same-sex e-confederate. 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 secondary-school 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). <br><br>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). <br><br>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.<br><br>Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0140-1971
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.12.004
ID  - ref1
ER  -