The Effect of Peer Influence on Risk-taking Behavior in Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents safety has been widely discussed in recent years. If teens fail to develop good safety habits, teens may be harmed at a physical or even mental level. Among other things, the risk-taking behavior of adolescents endangers their safety to a certain extent. Interpersonal interactions are also indispensable in the social environment, especially when adolescents are not yet fully mature, and their peers may also have some influence on their behaviors. This study aimed to examine the relationship between peer influence and risk-taking behavior among adolescents. Peer influence may be accounted for a large portion of the causes of adolescents' behaviors. Based on some past relevant literature, this paper speculates on some potential factors, such as age, cognition, emotion, and gender. Because of some limitations in the existing research, such as the small sample size, some of the inferred conclusions in this paper should be taken with caution. Nevertheless, this paper provides a reference angle for the subsequent improvement of the research area, which can help develop effective prevention and intervention strategies for adolescents.