In a study of 91 US adolescents aged 15 to 17 years and who had not previously used substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or illicit drugs, participants partook in a gambling task in which they made choices on their own as well as in groups of up to six members; compared with adolescents who had previously used substances, those who had not used substances exhibited enhanced neural responses and were more likely to make safe choices when observing peers who made safe choices, suggesting that peers influence adolescents' health risk behaviors, according to the authors.
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Article #19-19111: "Valuation of peers' safe choices is associated with substance-naïveté in adolescents," by Dongil Chung, Mark A. Orloff, Nina Lauharatanahirun, Pearl H. Chiu, and Brooks King-Casas.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brooks King-Casas, Virginia Tech, Storrs, Roanoke, VA; tel: 832-573-3695; e-mail: < bkcasas@vt.edu >; Pearl Chiu, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA; tel: 617-216-5373, e-mail: < bkcasas@vt.edu >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences