Risk Perception and Susceptibility to Peer Influence Predict Substance Use in Early Adolescence: Findings From the...

Experimentation with alcohol and other substances during the early adolescent period is associated with myriad potentially deleterious health outcomes. The present analysis used data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study) to examine the relationships among risk perception, susceptibility to peer influence, and substance use in early adolescence.

Participants completed a Social Influence Task (SIT) in which they were asked to rate the riskiness of various hypothetical scenarios. They were then presented with a risk rating purportedly provided by their peers and asked to rate each scenario again. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationships among risk perception (initial risk rating), susceptibility to peer influence (risk rating change), and future substance use.

Higher initial risk perception was associated with lower odds of future substance use. Greater susceptibility to peer influence in the positive direction (i.e., being more swayed by peers to rate a scenario as more risky than the participant had originally decided) was also associated with lower odds of future substance use.

These findings highlight the potential importance of leveraging positive peer influence to affect substance use outcomes.