Effects of Social Status on Concerns with Status Losses and Status Gains in Impaired Driving Scenarios: Loss Aversion and Deviance in Peer Groups

Abstract

At the forefront of current peer influence research in criminology is an attempt to understand how peers impact an individual’s participation in crime and deviance. Research seeks to explore whether social forces shape decision-making processes that lead a person to commit a deviant or dangerous act. This study examines how social status (popularity and social competency) and peer relations affect individuals’ willingness to engage in impaired driving related actions. More specifically, through the use of a survey experiment, this research project examines whether a person's social status and peers framing an act of deviance as social status losses or gains impacts a person’s willingness to drive impaired or get into a car with an impaired driver. In addition to the survey experiment, to further understand connections between impaired driving and young people, this project includes a thematic analysis examine the ways in which these effects of peer influence and social status are presented (or not) in relevant public engagement materials that seek to educate youth about impaired driving.