A DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CONCEPTUALISATION OF SUSCEPTIBILITY TO PEER PRESSURE

Abstract

This study proposed a domain-specific conceptualisation of susceptibility to peer pressure (SPP) and sought to establish its viability through (a) a measurement analysis; (b) replication of known findings involving age trends, gender effects, as well as theoretical correlates; and (c) demonstration of predictive utility. Participants were 311 adolescents. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted showed a reasonable fit for this domain-specific conceptualisation. Males and females demonstrated different age trends for the different susceptibilities, while parental monitoring and social self-esteem were found to be differentially related to certain domains of SPP. Domain-specific SPP was also able to predict actual domain-specific behaviours. These results, taken together, support a domain-specific model of SPP. Such a conceptualisation also yielded results that suggest that adolescents do not do something just because it is their peers urging them to do it, but they also look at what it is that peers tell them to do before deciding whether to do it.