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. 2018 Aug;6(4):255-265.
doi: 10.1177/2167696817722918. Epub 2017 Aug 23.

Imitating the Risky Decision-Making of Peers: An Experimental Study Among Emerging Adults

Larisa Riedijk  1 , Zeena Harakeh  1
Affiliations

Imitating the Risky Decision-Making of Peers: An Experimental Study Among Emerging Adults

Larisa Riedijk et al. Emerg Adulthood. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

This experiment examined whether emerging adults imitate the risky decision-making of peers and whether peer susceptibility functions as a moderator. Overall, 63 emerging adults participated with a confederate of the same gender. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (confederate engaged in risky decision-making) or control (confederate did not engage in risky decision-making) condition. Risky decision-making was measured with the Stop-Light Game task, and peer susceptibility was measured with a questionnaire. Linear regression analyses showed that the participants engaged in more risky decision-making when the peer displayed risky decision-making. Peer susceptibility was not found to be a significant moderator of this relationship. The findings showed that health education programs need to consider imitation to reduce the risky decision-making of emerging adults more effectively.

Keywords: emerging adults; imitation; peer influence; peer susceptibility; risky decision-making.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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