'Good Friends' Make Good Friends

Adolescents Without Delinquency Experience
Assign High Social Value to Friends' Risk-Avoidance Choices
Neuroscientific Evidence of Positive Effects of Peer Pressure in Preventing Delinquency

Comparison Graph of Experiment Description and the Degree of Influence on Peer Selection by Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Peer pressure, which causes individuals to behave similarly to their peer group, plays a role in producing delinquent youth with histories of drinking and running away from home. Conversely, when influenced by peer groups without delinquent experiences, it can also help prevent delinquency, according to a recent study. A research team led by Professor Dongil Jeong from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and a team from Virginia Tech in the United States announced on the 16th that their findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

General adolescents influenced by friends' risk-averse choices

Comparison of Activation Levels in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Brain Regions Unrelated to Social Value Judgment Across Groups

The joint research team conducted an experiment using a gambling game and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe activation levels in specific brain regions. The experiment divided participants into groups of adolescents with and without delinquent experiences and involved a game where they chose between 'risk-averse options' and 'risk-seeking options.' For example, the risk-averse option was a gamble guaranteeing a sure $25, while the risk-seeking option was a 50/50 chance to win either $55 or $1.

Results showed that the general adolescent group, unlike the delinquent youth group, often made risk-averse choices after observing other participants' risk-averse selections. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain was highly activated when seeing another adolescent make a risk-averse choice. In contrast, the delinquent youth group tended to make more risk-seeking choices and were not influenced by others' risk-averse decisions.

Evidence of the positive influence of peer pressure

Jeong Dong-il, Professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

The research team analyzed that this experiment demonstrates the positive aspects of peer pressure. The activation of specific brain regions responsible for social value judgment when observing peers' 'risk-averse' choices suggests that adolescents assign high social value to friends' risk-averse decisions and are likely to imitate them. This means they receive a 'positive influence' from friends who avoid risks.

Professor Dongil Jeong stated, "Unlike past studies that focused on the negative effects of peer pressure, this research is significant in showing that peer pressure can play a positive role in protecting adolescents from risky behaviors." He added, "A neuroscientific understanding of adolescents' decision-making processes could also aid in developing intervention therapies to address social issues such as drug addiction."

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