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Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network
Adolescents are highly influenced by their peers within their social networks. This social influence can stem from both unsolicited peer pressure and the active search for guidance. While extensive research examined the mechanisms of peer pressure, little is known about who adolescents prefer as a s...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10662136/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37985792 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46994-0 |
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author | Slagter, Scarlett K. Gradassi, Andrea van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K. van den Bos, Wouter |
author_facet | Slagter, Scarlett K. Gradassi, Andrea van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K. van den Bos, Wouter |
author_sort | Slagter, Scarlett K. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Adolescents are highly influenced by their peers within their social networks. This social influence can stem from both unsolicited peer pressure and the active search for guidance. While extensive research examined the mechanisms of peer pressure, little is known about who adolescents prefer as a source of information. To address this gap, we conducted two independent studies using a novel social search paradigm that allows participants to choose which social sources they wish to observe. In both studies, adolescents demonstrated a preference for their friends over non-friends, as well as for peers who were perceived as trustworthy. Across both studies, we found mixed evidence for the role of perceived popularity as a selection criterion. Notable, study 2 revealed the significance of “cool”, “admirable” and “acting mean” as additional characteristics of preferred peers, traits that are often associated with elevated peer status. It also revealed an interest for peers perceived as being smart. These findings highlight the active role adolescents have in choosing social sources and emphasize the importance of multiple peer characteristics. Future research should investigate whether adolescents’ interest in these types of peers is contingent upon specific social contexts, age groups, and peer cultures. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10662136 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106621362023-11-20 Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network Slagter, Scarlett K. Gradassi, Andrea van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K. van den Bos, Wouter Sci Rep Article Adolescents are highly influenced by their peers within their social networks. This social influence can stem from both unsolicited peer pressure and the active search for guidance. While extensive research examined the mechanisms of peer pressure, little is known about who adolescents prefer as a source of information. To address this gap, we conducted two independent studies using a novel social search paradigm that allows participants to choose which social sources they wish to observe. In both studies, adolescents demonstrated a preference for their friends over non-friends, as well as for peers who were perceived as trustworthy. Across both studies, we found mixed evidence for the role of perceived popularity as a selection criterion. Notable, study 2 revealed the significance of “cool”, “admirable” and “acting mean” as additional characteristics of preferred peers, traits that are often associated with elevated peer status. It also revealed an interest for peers perceived as being smart. These findings highlight the active role adolescents have in choosing social sources and emphasize the importance of multiple peer characteristics. Future research should investigate whether adolescents’ interest in these types of peers is contingent upon specific social contexts, age groups, and peer cultures. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-11-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10662136/ /pubmed/37985792 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46994-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Slagter, Scarlett K. Gradassi, Andrea van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K. van den Bos, Wouter Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title | Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title_full | Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title_fullStr | Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title_full_unstemmed | Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title_short | Identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
title_sort | identifying who adolescents prefer as source of information within their social network |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10662136/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37985792 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46994-0 |
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