JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Peer relationships are central to adolescent development and have consistently been linked to the initiation and maintenance of both prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Despite extensive research on peer influence, the microprocessual mechanisms through which friendship bond quality translates into real-time behavioural compliance and the co-production of behaviour remain poorly understood. This study presents the protocol for the first empirical application of the Method of Cascades — an integrative framework for investigating experiential processes through multistream observational data, sequential analysis, and structural equation modelling — in a peer influence context.

Objective:

The primary aim is to examine how affiliative reward derived from peer relationships shapes observed behavioural compliance, contingent responding, and the co-production of behaviour in VR-based dyadic tasks among adolescents. A secondary aim is to test whether in-VR behavioural patterns and individual self-concept characteristics — including self-concept clarity, self-concept centrality, emotional responses to self-concept invalidation, locus of control, and resistance to peer influence — predict real-life behavioural engagement and susceptibility to peer influence.

Methods:

We will recruit 200 adolescent participants (100 dyads, aged 17–19 years) from high-schools in Romania. Each dyad will complete three structured VR tasks and complete a brief questionnaire. Behaviours and verbalisations recorded in VR will be coded and analysed utilising lag-sequential analysis (Bakeman & Quera) to examine experiential cascades. Dynamic variables derived from the sequential analysis will be incorporated into structural equation models alongside questionnaire-derived composites. The questionnaire battery includes: the Network of Relationships Inventory (affiliative reward); the Self-Concept Clarity Scale; newly developed scales for self-concept moral centrality and emotional responses to self-concept invalidation; the Resistance to Peer Influence Scale; the Behavioural Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; a crime and substance use scale adapted from the Peterborough Adolescence to Adulthood Development Study (PADS+); the Family Affluence Scale; and a single-item cybersickness measure. Data collection commenced on 22 April 2026.

Results:

This is a protocol paper. No results are presented. Findings will be reported in subsequent publications following completion of data collection in August 2026.

Conclusions:

This study will generate the first empirical test of the Method of Cascades in a peer influence context and the first systematic observational evidence of how peer bond quality shapes real-time behavioural co-production in adolescents. Findings will advance methodological and substantive knowledge relevant to developmental psychology, criminology, and prevention science.