Risk Taking and Peer Pressure in Adolescents:A Correlational Study

Risk taking behavior is now a common aspect of the adolescent behavior. There is no doubt of considering risk taking to be developmentally appropriate for developing autonomy or forming an identity. In recent years it is observed that risk taking can have grave consequences. It is now known to have long lasting harmful effects. Adolescents experience pressure from all domains and peer pressure is one of the factor which pushes them to indulge in high risk behavior that can bring them into direct conflict. So peer pressure should be an important variable of focus. Keeping this in mind, the present investigation was adopted in the present study. A sample of 394 adolescents of 10th and 11th standard was selected. The age range of the participants was 14-17 years. Risk taking questionnaire and peer pressure inventory were administered on the subjects. The data was analyzed by coefficient of correlation by Pearson's Product moment method. The results indicated that out of five dimensions of peer pressure only four dimensions are significantly related to risk taking behavior. School involvement and family involvement have been found significantly and negatively related to risky behavior whereas significant and positive relationship has been found on misconduct and peer involvement dimensions amongst adolescents. It indicates that getting involved in school and family activities can lower the risky behavior. On the other hand getting too much involved with peer group and indulging in unacceptable behavior can lead to high risky behavior. No significant relationships were found between peer conformity and risk taking behavior. From the present findings it can be inferred that introducing an intervention program to tackle the risk taking behavior of adolescents and ways of handling peer pressure can be favorable for the holistic development of adolescents.