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- Title
Adolescents Perception of Risk: Understanding and Preventing High Risk Behavior.
- Authors
Severson, Herbert H.; Slovic, Paul; Hampson, Sarah
- Abstract
This paper describes a method for measuring risk perception in adolescents. The psychometric paradigm used in the work provides a rating across a wide range of activities and evaluates dimensions of an adolescent's perception of risk. Results show that adolescents who engage in high risk activities differ significantly on a wide range of perceptions from adolescents who do not engage in frequent high risk activities. When scales of risk are entered into a step-wise regression, the prediction of engagement in high risk activities is .78 (p<.001). The methodology of risk perception can provide a useful instrument for assessing an adolescent's view of risk taking and as a dependent measure of response to preventive interventions. Adolescence is the only age group for which mortality rates have risen between 1960 and 1990. The three primary causes of death during adolescence are accidents, homicide and suicide, all of which are associated with preventable social, environmental, and behavioral factors(Irwin & Milstein, 1986). A diversity of theoretical development and empirical work has emerged to understand the ideology of these high risk behaviors by adolescents. Our work is targeting, specifically, the engagement of adolescents in drug use and trying to understand and predict their involvement in this behavior. Theories have been postulated and explored which include factors such as family and peer models (Newcomb, Huba, & Bentler, 1983) tolerance of deviance or lack of conformity (Jessor & Jeasce, 1977), low self-esteem (Huba, Newcemb & Bentler, 1986). and stressful events of situations (Newcomb & Harlow, 1986). Teen drug use can be viewed as a product of complex biosocial processes which involve cultural, situational, familial, peer based, and intera-individual differences. These influences may be placed use distal proximal dimension. Toward the distal extreme, lie biological factors such as genetic pre-dispositions (e.g., alcoholism). Familial and cultural influences lissome-where mid-range, and situational and peer influences are more proximal. Risk perceptions represent an aspect of the belief structure and cognition of an individual that enter into decisions about drug use and are among the more proximal influences to be studied.
- Subjects
RISK-taking behavior in adolescence; RISK perception; PROBLEM youth; DISEASES in teenagers; ADOLESCENT psychology research; PREVENTION; ACCIDENTS; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
Advances in Consumer Research, 1993, Vol 20, Issue 1, p177
- ISSN
0098-9258
- Publication type
Article