Gardner & Steinberg (2005).pdf

Developmental Psychology
2005, Vol. 41, No. 4, 625– 635

Copyright 2005 by the American Psychological Association
0012-1649/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.625

Peer Influence on Risk Taking, Risk Preference, and Risky Decision
Making in Adolescence and Adulthood: An Experimental Study
Margo Gardner and Laurence Steinberg
Temple University

In this study, 306 individuals in 3 age groups—adolescents (13–16), youths (18 –22), and adults (24 and older)— completed 2 questionnaire measures assessing risk preference and risky decision making, and 1 behavioral task measuring risk taking. Participants in each age group were randomly assigned to complete the measures either alone or with 2 same-aged peers. Analyses indicated that (a) risk taking and risky decision making decreased with age; (b) participants took more risks, focused more on the benefits than the costs of risky behavior, and made riskier decisions when in peer groups than alone; and (c) peer effects on risk taking and risky decision making were stronger among adolescents and youths 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.
Keywords: adolescents, risk taking, peer influence, risk preference, decision making

authors suggest that typical laboratory studies of risky decision making fail to consider the emotional and social contexts in which risk taking actually occurs (Cauffman & Steinberg, 2000; Scott,
Reppucci, & Woolard, 1995; Steinberg, 2004; Steinberg & Cauffman, 1996). In such studies, individual adolescents are presented with hypothetical dilemmas under conditions of low emotional arousal and are then asked to make and explain their decisions. In the real world, however, adolescents’ decisions are not hypothetical, they are generally made under conditions of emotional arousal

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