An Experimental Study on the Influence of Friends and Popular Peers on Adolescents' Risky Decisions in a Private and Public Context.

UNLABELLED: Understanding why peers influence adolescents’ risky decisions requires identifying their primary sources of influence. This study compared the influence of friends and popular peers on adolescents’ risky decision-making within a high school setting. The sample consisted of 457 Dutch adolescents, aged 11–18 years (mean age = 14.32, SD = 1.86), with 53% identifying as female. Adolescents and their potential influencers were recruited from high schools. At these high schools, adolescents played the Columbia Card Task (CCT), during which they observed the choices made by their friends or popular classmates (within-condition). Participants were randomly assigned to either a private or public condition of the task (between-condition). Their final decisions were either disclosed to these peers (public) or kept confidential (private). This study showed that friends and popular peers both influence adolescents’ choices, with only slightly greater adjustments for friends. This was found for both contexts (private or public). Adolescents adjusted their initial choices in 88% of cases, with adjustment strategies largely depending on whether peers’ choices were more or less risky; Riskier choices were more often followed or even exceeded, while more cautious choices were more frequently ignored. As a result, peers had a stronger effect on increasing risk-taking than reducing risk-taking. These results inform a discussion on adolescents’ motivational drivers of adjustment and the implications of heightened sensitivity to displaying risky behaviour in peer contexts.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10964-026-02349-2.