Reduction of Risk Behaviors in Youth: 
 
Risk Taking

Bibliography 
Developmental Issues/Theories/Models 

Arnett, J. (1992). Reckless behavior in adolescence: A developmental perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 339-373.

The author presents a multidimensional, developmental theory of adolescent reckless behavior which focuses on the influential factors of sensation seeking and adolescent egocentrism. Socialization influences including peer influence also are discussed. Several types of reckless behavior, as well as their decline, are discussed in light of this theory. In addition, the model discussed in this article is compared to Jessor and Jessor's Problem Behavior Theory.

Bell, N. J., & Bell, R. W. (1993). Adolescent risk taking. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

This book is a compilation by many scholars in the field of adolescent risk taking. Several sociological and psychological perspectives concerning adolescent risk taking are presented toward an understanding of how adolescents make choices which are considered risky or dangerous. Applying a risk taking perspective to the study of adolescent problem behavior is suggested. Programmatic and policy issues also are discussed.

Bogenschneider, K. (1996). An ecological risk/protective theory for building prevention programs, policies, and community capacity to support youth. Family Relations, 45, 127-138.

This comprehensive article presents a risk/protective theoretical model grounded in ecological and developmental contextualist theories. The different components of this theory are well explained, including the reasons why they fit and work best together not separately. The theory is explained as a framework to inform prevention programs, policies and community capacity. The author outlines twelve principles to direct effective efforts. Wisconsin Youth Futures is used as an example of how this framework has been used successfully.

Fischoff, B. (1992). Risk taking: A developmental perspective. Yates, J. F. (ed.). Risk-taking behavior, (pp. 133-162). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

In this chapter the author discusses the complex interaction between risk taking and adolescent development. Cognitive, affective and social development are considered and examined regarding their influence on the risk taker. A decision making perspective is discussed whereby risk taking is viewed as a deliberate choice.

Furby, L., & Beyth-Marom, R. (1992). Risk taking in adolescence: A decision making perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 1-44.

This comprehensive article uses a decision-making perspective to review literature on risk taking in adolescence. A assumption is made that decision making involves making a choice and that any choice entails some risk. A understanding of risk taking, therefore, must consider the decision making process. Differences between how adolescents and adults make decisions (such as how consequences are perceived) are examined. The authors argue that what looks like irrational decision making or lack of appropriate skills in adolescents can actually be different ways of perceiving consequences. It was found that adolescents consider positive consequences of risk taking as well as negative consequences before making a choice.

Jessor, R. (1992). Risk behavior in adolescence: A psychosocial framework for understanding and action. Developmental Review, 12, 374-390.

The author presents his well-known social-psychological, explanatory model of adolescent risk behavior which includes person and situation variables organized into risk factors and protective factors. An interactionist orientation to adolescent problem behavior is the result which includes five interrelated conceptual domains: biology/genetics; social environment; perceived environment; personality; and behavior.

Ketterlinus, R. D., & Lamb, M. E. (eds.). (1994). Adolescent problem behaviors: Issues and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

This book is a selective compilation of theoretical and empirical perspectives on adolescent problem behaviors. Ontogeny, correlates, consequences, and treatment of adolescent problem behaviors are discussed by a variety of researchers in the field of adolescent development.

Lavery, B., Siegel, A. W., Cousins, J. H., & Rubovits, D. S. (1993). Adolescent risk-taking: An analysis of problem behaviors in problem children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 55, 277-294.

In this article adolescent risk taking is explored from several theoretical positions: Jessor's problem behavior theory; risk taking as normal and adaptive; adolescent egocentrism; and a decision making perspective. Adolescent risk taking is argued to be a multidimensional phenomenon involving personality correlates and cognitive aspects of decision making.

Lipsitt, L. P., & Mitnick, L. L. (eds.). (1991). Self-regulatory behavior and risk taking: Causes and consequences. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

This book emerged from two conferences sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and is written by leading scholars in the field of the psychology of risk taking. The book addresses diverse views and different models and theories on the topic of self-regulation and risk taking. The book is organized into six parts: Epidemiologic considerations; developmental and cultural aspects; mechanisms and processes; psychopathology of risk taking; intervention issues; and implications and speculations.

Risk Perception

Benthin, A., Slovic, P., & Severson, H. (1993). A psychometric study of adolescent risk perception. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 153-168.

A study is described which assessed how adolescents think about risk. High school students evaluated different activities in regards to perceived risk and benefit. Perceptions of risk were found to correlate with self-reported participation. Implications for theory, research and for health education and intervention programs are discussed.

Beyth-Marom, R., Austin, L., Fischoff, B., Palmgren, C., & Jacobs-Quadrel, M. (1993). Perceived consequences of risky behaviors. Adults and adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 29, 549-563.

This article describes a comprehensive study comparing adults and adolescents regarding the generation of possible consequences for either accepting or declining opportunities to engage in risk behaviors. Response patterns were found to be similar for adults and adolescents. The differences between the consequences produced for one-time versus regular risk behaviors and open-ended versus closed-ended questioning also are discussed.

Jacobs-Quadrel, M., Fischoff, B., & Davis, W. (1993). Adolescent (in)vulnerability. American Psychologist, 48, 102-116.

A study is described with results which dispute the often believed view that adolescent risk taking is a function of adolescent invulnerability. Adolescents and adults were compared in their ratings of the probability that they and several target others would experience various consequences of risky behavior. Both adolescents and adults viewed others as facing somewhat more risk than themselves; no pronounced differences between the responses of adults and adolescents were found.

Lightfoot, C. (1997). The culture of adolescent risk-taking. New York: Guilford Press.

In this interesting book, the author applies the "interpretive perspective" to the study of adolescent risk taking in looking for the meanings adolescents attribute to their risk taking activities. She views risk taking as "interpretive activity, as meaningful action, as experience" which is goal-oriented and purposive. She brings together ideas from a variety of disciplines, mainly psychology and anthropology, in an effort to gain further understanding of the culture of adolescent risk taking.

Moore, S., & Gullone, E. (1996). Predicting adolescent risk behavior using a personalized cost-benefit analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 343-359.

For this study adolescents generated a list of common risky behaviors which were then grouped into 11 major categories. Adolescent engagement in these risky behaviors was correlated with four variables: perceived pleasantness of positive outcomes; likelihood of positive outcomes, perceived unpleasantness of negative outcomes; and likelihood of negative outcomes. The major finding of the study was that adolescent risk taking is strongly influenced by perceptions of positive outcomes. Implications for interventions are discussed suggesting that focus on negative consequences may not be as appropriate as helping adolescents find positive outcomes in more health-enhancing behaviors.

Parsons, J. T., Siegel, A. W., & Cousins, J. H. (1997). Late adolescent risk-taking; Effects of perceived benefits and perceived risks on behavioral intentions and behavioral change. Journal of Adolescence, 20, 381-392.

In this study perceived risks, perceived benefits, intended risk taking and actual risk taking were assessed with 187 late adolescent college students. It was found that although both perceived risks and benefits influenced behavioral intentions, perceived benefits were a better predictor of actual involvement in risk taking behavior. The implications of these findings to interventions with risk taking adolescents are discussed.

Psychosocial Influences Bowen, G. L., & Chapman, M. V. (1996). Poverty, neighborhood danger, social support, and the individual adaptation among at-risk youth in urban areas. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 641-666.

In this article a study of the impact of neighborhood danger and social support from friends, parents, neighbors and teachers on individual adaptation of at-risk urban youth is described. Findings show that social support from parents, neighbors and teachers (not friends) was more influential to individual adaptation than neighborhood danger. These findings support other research that points to the importance of protective factors over risk factors. Although social support was found to be a more influential factor, the authors suggest that interventions which attempt to both reduce risk and increase support are most promising.

Cochran, J. K., Wood, P. B., & Arneklev, B. J. (1994). Is the religiosity-delinquency relationship spurious? A test of arousal theory and social control theories. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 31, 92-123.

In this article the inverse relationship between personal religiosity and delinquency is disputed as being spurious. The authors support this view by examining both Arousal Theory and Social Control Theory. Self-report data was collected from 1600 high school students. When controlling for arousal theory and social control indicators, the results indicate support for spuriousness. The effects of religiosity were insignificant regarding assault, theft, vandalism, illicit drug use and truancy. It continued to have an effect on legalized substances such as alcohol and tobacco. The authors suggest an arousal/thrill seeking perspective is needed for understanding causes and motivations for delinquency.

Maggs, J. L., Frome, P. M., Eccles, J. S., & Barber B. L. (1997). Psychosocial resources, adolescent risk behavior and young adult adjustment: Is risk taking more dangerous for some than others? Journal of Adolescence, 20, 103-119.

This study uses longitudinal data to assess the influence of adolescent risk behaviors and psychosocial resources on adjustment and continued risk taking in young adulthood. Results found that psychosocial resources such as individual well-being, GPA, gender and parental support during adolescence were predictive of young adult adjustment. The results of adolescent risk taking on adjustment in adulthood were inconsistent with no significant predictive relationship between risk taking in adolescence and young adult adjustment. This article also contains a review of studies on consequences of adolescent risk behaviors.

Miller, D. C., & Byrnes, J. P. (1997). The role of contextual and personal factors in children's risk taking. Developmental Psychology, 33, 814-823.

Two studies are presented in this article which test a self-regulation model (SRM) of risk taking. The SRM consists of five self-regulatory tendencies that are thought to increase the chances that a risk takers goals will be accomplished. In the two studies, third through eight graders were given multiple risk taking tasks to accomplish. Different contextual and personal factors were considered including the presence of peers and variety of task, and impulsivity and competitiveness. Support was gained for the SRM. Risk taking was found to be context-specific. Age and gender differences also are discussed.

Resiliency/Risk-Protective Factors

Grossman, F. K., Beinashowitz, J., Anderson, L., Sakurai, M., Finnin, L., & Flaherty, M. (1992). Risk and resilience in young adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 21, 529-550.

In this exploratory study, the main goals were to examine the role of protective factors in healthy adjustment, and to determine the protective factor-by-risk interactions with a group of 179 9th grade students. Protective factors examined were: family cohesion; locus of control; mother/father communication; and relationship with a nonparent adult. Protective factors were found to be powerful predictors of healthy adjustment independent of risk factors and found to be highly context specific. Gender differences were found. The importance of family connections to healthy adolescent development was confirmed.

Jessor, R., Van Den Bos, J., Vanderryn, J., Costa, F. M., & Turbin, M. S. (1995). Protective factors in adolescent problem behavior: Moderator effects and developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 31, 923-933.

The role of psychosocial protective factors is examined in relation to adolescent involvement in problem behaviors: alcohol and drug abuse; delinquency; and sexual precocity. Protective factors were found to directly and indirectly influence adolescent involvement in problem behavior. High degrees of protection were related to low involvement in problem behaviors. Protective factors also were found to serve as moderators between risk factors and problem behaviors. The authors suggest that risk and protective factors be conceptualized as distinct and separate factors, not opposite ends of a single factor.

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. JAMA, 278, 823-832.

This report is the first from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Included is longitudinal data on the health status, risk behaviors and social contexts of adolescents. The objective is to identify risk and protective factors at various contextual levels as they relate to four domains of adolescent health and morbidity: emotional health; violence; substance use; and sexuality. Results include findings that parent-family connectedness, parental expectations regarding school achievement and perceived school connectedness are protective against health risk behaviors. Parental disapproval of early sexual debut was associated with later age of onset of intercourse.

Rak, C. F., & Patterson, L. E. (1996). Promoting resilience in at-risk children. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 368-373.

In this article the authors review research studies on resiliency and protective factors such as individual characteristics and family and social support, and they apply this information to a discussion of assessment techniques and intervention strategies that can be used by counselors in a variety of settings. Particularly noteworthy is an interview which was devised by the authors and which is included in the article. It is appropriate for use with adolescents.

Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316-331.

This important and comprehensive article is concerned with the mechanisms and processes found protective against psychological risk in the presence of stress and adversity. The author first defines and explains the terminology of resilience. He makes an argument for the importance of a focus on protective mechanisms and processes rather than broad protective factors. These mechanisms and processes are not static but are highly situation specific. Therefore, key turning points are of particular importance and require special attention.

Werner, E. E. (1989). High-risk children in young adulthood: A longitudinal study from birth to 32 years. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 59, 72-81.

This article describes the results of an important 32-year longitudinal study of 698, multi-racial children born in 1955 on the island of Kauai. About one third of these children were considered high-risk due to factors such as perinatal distress, poverty and troubled family environments. Beginning during the prenatal period, the impact of biological and psychosocial risk factors, stressful life events and protective factors in early and middle childhood, late adolescence, and young adulthood were monitored. Results indicate that one out of three of these high-risk children were able to overcome their adverse beginnings and become competent and responsible adults. Three types of protective factors associated with the resilience of these individuals are discussed. They include: dispositional attributes; affectional ties/emotional support within the family; and external support systems. It is suggested that these protective factors have a more generalized effect on adaptation than do specific risk factors such as poverty, parental psychopathology or alcoholism, and teenage pregnancy.

Sensation seeking

Horvath, P., & Zuckerman, M. (1993). Sensation seeking, risk appraisal, and risky behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 41-52.

This study investigated the relationships between sensation seeking and impulsivity, risk appraisal with various types of risk (i.e., financial, sports, crime, and sexual activity) and risk taking behavior. It was found that sensation seeking was inversely related to risk appraisals and positively related to experience in risky behaviors. Impulsivity had less significant correlations. Risk appraisal and experience in risky behaviors were negatively correlated. Perceived prevalence of risk taking by peers was the strongest predictor of experience in risky behavior. In addition, risk appraisal was found to be a consequence rather than a cause of risky behavior.

Zuckerman, M. (1994). Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. New York: Cambridge University Press.

This book brings together the results of many years of research on the topic of sensation seeking by the leading scholar in the field. Sensation seeking is described as a trait which involves "a tendency to seek novel, varied, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience." This trait has been associated with many kinds of risk taking behavior including driving habits, gambling, alcohol and drug use, sexual behavior and sports interest. Areas such as vocational and relationship preferences and choices have been studied according to a sensation seeking trait. A biosocial model of the sensation seeking trait is presented. The Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) is described.

Reckless Behavior

Arnett, J. (1995). The young and the reckless: Adolescent reckless behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 67-71.

This concise article extends Arnett's theory of adolescent reckless behavior. Adolescent reckless behavior is described as a result of the interaction between three developmental characteristics of adolescence - sensation seeking, egocentrism, and aggression - and the cultural socialization environment. Arnett, J. (1992). Socialization and adolescent reckless behavior: A reply to Jessor. Developmental Review, 12, 391-409. In this article, the author elaborates on the socializing aspects of his theory of adolescent reckless behavior in response to Jessor's criticism of his focus on sensation seeking and egocentrism. The socialization environment includes parents, peers, school, community, the legal system, the media, and the cultural belief system. The socialization environment is discussed in terms of how it restricts/allows adolescent reckless behavior.

Multiple Risk/Co-Occurrence

Huizinga, D., Loeber, R., & Thornberry, T. P. (1993). Longitudinal study of delinquency, drug use, sexual activity, and pregnancy among children and youth in three cities. Public Health Reports, 108, Supp.1, 90-96.

This article describes a longitudinal study of large numbers of youth in three large cities. Prevalence of several risky behaviors are reported. Results indicate co-occurrence of these behaviors and that initiation into risky behaviors often occurs before the teenage years. Implications for effective, relevant programs are discussed. Comprehensive intervention programs with attention to combinations of behaviors is suggested.

Programs/Interventions

Benson, P. L. (1998). Mobilizing communities to promote developmental assets: A promising strategy for the prevention of high-risk behaviors. Family Science Review, 11, 220-238.

The results and recommendations based on an important large scale survey of youth done by the Search Institute, a non-profit research and educational institution, are presented. They have conceptualized a comprehensive, research-based, community-change effort with three overlapping goals. The first is a framework of 40 developmental assets found to inhibit high risk behavior and to promote thriving behavior. The second is a framework of community dynamics and processes meant to help build these assets in youth. The third are specific ideas and strategies for actualizing the asset building community.

Dryfoos, J. G. (1990). Adolescents at risk: Prevalence and prevention. New York: Oxford University Press.

In this important book, the author discusses four problem areas concerning adolescents in today's society: delinquency, substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and school failure and dropping out. Prevalence and the scope of these problems are addressed, as well as prevention strategies. The interrelatedness of risk taking behaviors is emphasized. Common components of successful prevention programs are described.

Lerner, R. M. (1995). America's youth in crisis: Challenges and options for programs and policies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

This comprehensive book addresses the national crisis concerning children and youth not living up to their potential due to problems such as substance abuse, unsafe sex, and school failure. The lessened potential of our youth puts the future of all of society at risk, not just the individuals taking risks. The author suggests a model for an integrated vision and implementation in relevant areas such as evaluation, research and programming.

Public Health Service Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (1993). Designing health promotion approaches to high-risk adolescents through formative research with youth and parents. Public Health Reports, 108, Supp. 1, 68-77.

This article reports on the results of focus groups with 160 high-risk youth ages 10-18 and 70 parents and grandparents of youth of similar ages. Groups represented African American, white, Hispanic and American Indian youth. They were asked about their knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning several risky behaviors. The results show the youth were well informed on all topics except HIV-AIDS. Yet despite information, the youth continue to engage in risky activities. Recommendations for effective strategies to work with this population of adolescents are included. It appears youth need more skills and support for how to change their behaviors rather than more information about the risks.

Adolescent Development

Lerner, R. M., & Galambos, N. L. (1998). Adolescent development: Challenges and opportunities for research, programs, and policies. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 413-436.

In this review, adolescent development is discussed in terms of current research on risk and protection. Four areas of problem behaviors are highlighted: drug, alcohol and substance use and abuse; unsafe sex, teenage pregnancy, and teenage parenting; school underachievement, failure, and dropout; and delinquency, crime, and violence. Contextual factors and individual differences such as ethnicity are emphasized as being relevant to the process of development as well as to considerations when developing effective programs. Important suggestions concerning research, policy and programs are included.  
 

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