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Only kids who are fools would do that! Peer social norms influence children's risk-taking decisions
Barbara A Morrongiello1, Brae Anne McArthur, Alexa Kane
1Psychology Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada. bmorrong@uoguelph.ca
Objectives:
The current research examined the impact of peer social norms on the physical risk-taking decisions of elementary-school children.
Method:
Children 6-12 years of age completed a novel video-viewing decision task in which they observed risk and non-risk child behaviors on a playground and, after each behavior, indicated their willingness to model each of the behaviors in their own video, both before and after exposure to peer-communicated social norms (encouragement, discouragement).
Results:
Exposure to peer social norms resulted in significant changes in risk taking, with changes predicted from ratings of perceived social norms and appraisals of injury vulnerability and severity.
Conclusion:
Exposure to peer social norms can provide another means by which injury prevention programs can aim to reduce injury-risk behaviors among school-age children.
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