Peer Contagion of Aggression and Health Risk Behavior Among Adolescent Males: An Experimental Investigation of Effects on Public Conduct and Private Attitudes

• Geoffrey L. Cohen ^[2] ; Mitchell J. Prinstein ^[1]
  1. [1] University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

     University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

     Township of Chapel Hill, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Colorado at Boulder
• Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 77, Nº. 4, 2006, págs. 967-983
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00913.x
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • Peer contagion of adolescent males' aggressive/health risk behaviors was examined using a computerized “chat room” experimental paradigm. Forty-three 11th-grade White adolescents (16–17 years old) were led to believe that they were interacting with other students (i.e., “e-confederates”), who endorsed aggressive/health risk behaviors and whose ostensible peer status was experimentally manipulated. Adolescents displayed greater public conformity, more internalization of aggressive/health risk attitudes, and a higher frequency of actual exclusionary behavior when the e-confederates were high in peer status than low. Participants' level of social anxiety moderated peer contagion. Nonsocially anxious participants conformed only to high-status peers, whereas socially anxious participants were equally influenced by low- and high-status peers. The role of status-maintenance motivations in aggression and risk behavior, and implications for preventive intervention, are discussed.