Sept. 14, 1998
Contact: Joseph Allen
(804) 982-4727
jpa8r@virginia.edu

U.VA. STUDY WILL EXAMINE PEER PRESSURE ON TEENAGERS

	Nearly 200 Charlottesville families will be selected to
participate in a study investigating the effects of peer pressure on
teenagers.
	The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Joseph P.
Allen, an associate professor of psychology at the University of
Virginia, a $1.5 million grant to conduct a five-year investigation into
early adolescent development.
	Among the central questions Allen's study will investigate are
how peer pressure develops, what makes some teenagers susceptible to it
while others appear indifferent, and the role parents play in helping
teens develop the ability to handle peer pressure.  
	The study also will examine how teenagers learn to manage
relationships with their peers and how adolescents develop lasting,
mature relationships with their peers. 
	"Parents and educators are constantly struggling against the
effects of negative peer pressure on teenagers, yet there is little
research that shows how adolescents can overcome such influences," said
Allen. "We will also investigate how peer pressure can be a positive
experience for teens."
	Allen, who is working with Charlottesville City Schools, will
recruit 184 families with seventh- and eighth-graders attending Buford
Middle School to participate in the study.  
	The researchers will conduct four interviews with the families,
the teens and their peers over five years. They will first hold
interviews with the parents and the teens; the second interviews will be
with the adolescents and their peers.
	During the interviews researchers will observe the quality of
relationships the teenagers have -- both with their parents and their
peers.  
	They will examine how adolescents' values influence peer
pressure.  They will also investigate how peers' behaviors, such as
cigarette smoking or drinking, influence the teens.
	After selecting the families to participate in the study,
researchers will conduct initial interviews over the coming year.
Families will be paid for their participation, Allen said.
   	Families eligible to participate in the study will be contacted
by mail within a month.
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