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Developmental Psychology
1986,
Vol. 22, No. 4, 521-530Copyright 1986 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0012-1649/86/S00.75
Perceptions of Peer Pressure, Peer Conformity Dispositions,
and Self-Reported Behavior Among Adolescents
Donna Rae Clasen
University of Wisconsin—Whitewater
B.
Bradford Brown
University of Wisconsin—MadisonSue Ann Eicher
University of Wisconsin—Madison
Two
samples of 6th to 12th graders from separate communities
were
given measures of peer confor-
mity dispositions (willingness to accede to peer pressure), perceptions of peer pressure, and
self-
reported frequency of behavior concerning two major aspects of teenage life: peer involvement (de-
gree of socializing with friends) and misconduct (drug/alcohol use, sexual intercourse, and minor
delinquent behavior). Respondents perceived less peer pressure toward misconduct than peer in-
volvement and also were comparatively less willing to follow peers in misconduct. Nevertheless,
perceived peer pressure and conformity disposition accounted for more of
the
variance in self-re-
ported misconduct than in self-reported peer involvement. Age differences were modest and varied
among measures and samples. The samples also differed in the magnitude of perceived pressures
and conformity dispositions as well as in the degree to which these variables were associated with
self-reported
behavior.
The findings
reveal
a complexity in adolescent conformity that
bears
elabora-
tion in future research.
Conformity to peers
is
often considered one of the hallmarks
of adolescent behavior. Studies have shown that peer confor-
mity dispositions (willingness to conform to peers) as well as
conformity behavior increase from childhood through adoles-
cence. Researchers, however, have tended to examine confor-
mity dispositions without reference to conformity behavior, or
behavior without reference to dispositions. There also has been
little effort to ascertain the nature or extent of peer pressure
adolescents actually perceive in their daily lives. These factors
limit our understanding of
how
peer conformity influences ado-
lescent development. To address these limitations, the present
study examined the associations among peer conformity dispo-
sitions, perceptions of peer pressure, and self-reported behavior
in two major facets of
adolescents'
lives: peer involvement and
misconduct.
From the theoretical perspective of ego identity development
A version of this article was presented at the biennial meeting of the
Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto, Ontario, April
1985.
The study was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation,
Chicago, Illinois. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of
Jeffrey Freemas in data collection and Teri Frailey in preparation of
the manuscript. Maribeth Gettinger, Ronald
Serlin,
Joel Levin, and two
anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on earlier drafts of
the manuscript. The authors thank Kris Karrmann for providing data
from her Platteville High School Drinking Survey. We are especially
grateful to the students and staff of the middle schools and high schools
in Madison and Platteville, Wisconsin, for their participation in the
study.
Requests for reprints should be sent to
B.
Bradford Brown, Depart-
ment of Educational Psychology, 1025 W. Johnson Street, Madison,
Wisconsin 53706.
Erikson (1968) and Newman and Newman (1976) both argue
that the early adolescent's need for affiliation with a group of
peers is manifested by conformity to group norms, and that
the group itself
is
strengthened when members exert conformity
pressures on each
other.
With
the
development of a more auton-
omous sense of self later in adolescence, strong group affiliation
and conformity to peer group norms become less essential for
a sense of well-being. Accordingly, one should find that peer
conformity dispositions and conformity behavior increase from
childhood through early or middle adolescence, then decline in
later adolescence.
This inverted U-shaped
age
pattern
has
been found in several
studies using an Asch (1951) procedure involving ambiguous
judgments to examine conformity behavior in response to con-
trived peer pressure (Costanzo & Shaw, 1966; Iscoe, Williams,
& Harvey, 1963). Others
using
this approach, however, have re-
ported more erratic age trends (Berenda, 1950; Collins &
Thomas, 1972). Furthermore, Hoving, Hamm, and Galvin
(1969) found that when students
were
confronted with a similar
task but less ambiguous judgments, conforming responses de-
clined sharply between
ages 8
and 14.
The
inconsistent results among studies based on an Asch pro-
cedure suggested that
age
is not the only factor influencing con-
formity behavior among children and adolescents. This
prompted some investigators to focus on age changes in peer
conformity dispositions rather than conformity behavior.
Berndt (1979) and Bixenstine, DeCorte, and Bixenstine (1976)
asked students at selected grade levels from Grades 3 to 12 to
indicate how they would respond to hypothetical situations in
which close friends encouraged them to join in various antiso-
cial
activities.
In both studies, conformity disposition increased
from childhood to adolescence. In one study (Berndt, 1979)
521
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