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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...

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Autores principales: Slagter, Scarlett K., Gradassi, Andrea, van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K., van den Bos, Wouter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
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.
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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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