Longitudinal associations among peer and family identity and susceptibility to peer influence (2023)

Undergraduate: Kennedy Kreidell

Faculty Advisor: Eva Telzer
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Adolescents are uniquely affected by the influences of both family and peers. As adolescent social identities switch from family-oriented to peer-oriented, it is important to understand how these shifting identities may affect adolescent susceptibility to peer influence. The present study explores the impacts that both family and peer identity individually have on susceptibility to peer influence. 147 adolescents participated across 3 waves at ages 12.32 years, 13.2 years, and 14.23 years. A cross lagged panel analysis revealed that higher susceptibility to peer influence at wave 2 predicted higher peer identity at wave 3. Concurrent analyses indicated that high peer identity predicted low susceptibility to peer influence at wave 1 and high family identity predicted low susceptibility to peer influence at wave 3. Findings have implications for providing context for parents and adolescents about what factors impact their susceptibility to peer influence and how these factors may change over time.

Keywords: peer identity, family identity, susceptibility to peer influence, adolescence, longitudinal, Social Identity Theory

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