PREVALENCE ESTIMATES AND ADOLESCENT RISK BEHAVIOR - CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL-INFLUENCE

Prevalence estimates and prototype perceptions related to health risk behaviors were assessed in comparable samples of Danish and American a dolescents (ages 13-15 years). Partly on the basis of observation and previous research, the assumption was made that the American sample wo uld report more self-enhancement tendencies than would the Danish samp le. Consistent with this assumption, which was supported by the data, 2 hypotheses were tested: (a) The Americans would overestimate the pre valence of the various risk behaviors (among their peers) more so than would the Danes and (b) those estimates would be more closely linked to their own risk behaviors for the American sample. Results supported both hypotheses; motivational explanations were proposed for both eff ects. In addition, perceptions of the prototypes associated with parti cular risk behaviors were assessed and were found to predict smoking b ehavior and willingness to engage in unprotected sexual intercourse fo r both samples. Implications for the study of adolescent risk behavior are discussed.