Abstract:

Two experiments were conducted by using the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) to examine the influence of peer observing, peer distance, and number of peers on early adolescent risk-taking behavior. Experiment 1 recruited 90 junior high school students to explore the effects of peer onsite observing versus online observing on adolescent risk-taking behavior. Compared to the solitary situation, we found that peer observing increased adolescent risk-taking behavior and that adolescents’ risk-taking level was higher when peer was onsite than when peer was observing online. Experiment 2 recruited 81 junior high school students to examine the effects of mode and amount of peer presence on adolescents’ risk-taking behavior. The results revealed that adolescents’ risk-taking level was higher when peers observed next to each other than when peers observed across from each other, which was higher than when peers were only present. Adolescents’ risk-taking levels were higher when two peers were present than when one peer was present. The study demonstrates that closer peer distance and a greater number of peers increased adolescent risk-taking behaviors, which proves the applicability of dual-systems theory in explaining adolescent risk-taking behavior in peer context, and reveals the important role of peer presence on adolescent risk-taking behavior.

Key words: adolescents, risk-taking behavior, peer observing, dual systems theory

摘要：

采用气球模拟风险任务，通过2个实验考察同伴观看、同伴距离与同伴数量对早期青少年冒险行为的影响。实验1选取90名初中生，考察同伴观看方式对青少年冒险行为的影响。结果发现，相比于独自情境，同伴观看会增加青少年冒险行为，同伴现场观看时青少年的冒险水平高于同伴在线观看。实验2选取81名初中生，考察现场观看情境下同伴距离与数量对青少年冒险行为的影响。结果发现，同伴旁边观看时青少年的冒险水平高于对面观看，后者又高于同伴仅在现场；两名同伴现场观看时青少年的冒险水平高于一名同伴在场。结果表明更近的同伴距离和更多的同伴数量会增加青少年冒险行为，证明双系统理论解释同伴情境下青少年冒险行为的适用性，并揭示了同伴的在场方式对青少年冒险行为的重要作用。

关键词: 青少年, 冒险行为, 同伴观看, 双系统理论