The Social Sources Adolescents Consult for Daily Life Choices: Variations in Age and Decision Domains

This study emphasises adolescents' active role in seeking advice from peers to inform their decisions related to risky-, prosocial-, and academic behaviour. Across all domains, adolescents prioritise guidance from (close) friends and peers they trust. Characteristics related to the social status of a peer, and perceived intelligence, also contribute to someone being consulted for advice. The type of peers adolescents prefer to consult appears to be more consistent across domains than highly domain-specific. However, the increased bias for friends with age was absent for academic choices. Future studies should aim to better understand adolescents' motives for consulting certain peers and should investigate the extent to which a peer's knowledge and skills play a role. These insights are essential for evaluating the suitability of peers as information sources across various decision domains.