Susceptibility to peer influence in adolescents: associations between psychophysiology and behavior
Date
2023
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The goal of the current study was to investigate in-the-moment links between adolescents’ sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity and their susceptibility to three types of peer influence (indirect, direct, continuing) on two types of behavior (antisocial, prosocial). Our sample included 147 racially-ethnically diverse adolescents (46% male, 53% female, 1% other) in 10th or 11th grade. We assessed susceptibility to peer influence behaviorally using the Public Goods Game while simultaneously measuring adolescents’ mean heart rate (MHR) and pre-ejection period (PEP). Three key findings emerged from our bivariate dual latent change score modeling analyses: 1) Adolescents whose MHR increased more as they transitioned from playing the PGG alone (pre-influence) to playing while simply observed by peers (indirect influence) displayed more prosocial behavior; 2) Adolescents whose PEP activity increased more as they transitioned from being simply observed by peers (indirect influence) to being directly encouraged by peers to engage in antisocial behavior (direct influence) engaged in more antisocial behavior; 3) Adolescents whose PEP activity decreased less as they transitioned from being directly encouraged by peers to engage in prosocial behavior (direct influence) to playing the PGG alone again (continuing influence) displayed more continuing prosocial behavior (marginal effect). The discussion focuses on the differential interpretation of findings for MHR versus PEP, with MHR indexing emotional arousal and PEP indexing reward sensitivity.
Description
Keywords
Antisocial, Peer influence, Prosocial, Psychophysiology, Susceptibility, Adolescents, Pre-ejection period