Teens and Risk Taking Behavior

      As a mother of a thirteen year old girl, the assigned topic of adolescent risk taking is particularly engaging to me. It is always important to me that I submit well thought out class work, but in this instance, I have a much deeper drive to make sure I understand the issue fully.  My fear as a mother is that my daughter will become a part of the statistical percentage of teens that make the choice to cross the line that separates normal adolescent development type of experimentation behavior as an assertion of independence to that of engaging in serious risk taking activities.  Often, teenagers move through the world under the veil of their personal fable, which erroneously conveys to them a sense of invincibility.   According to the book, Adolescent Risk Behaviors, written by Drs. David Wolfe, Peter Jaffe, and Claire Crooks, the most common risk taking behaviors adolescents typically engage in are: the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs, school failure and dropping out, delinquency, crime, violence, and unsafe sexual practices. All of these behaviors could potentially impact the future mental and physical life of the teens, and some are dangerous enough to be life threatening.

     The authors examine the development of risk taking behaviors in the lives of adolescents and the connection between these behaviors and the influence of peer and family relationships in addition to physical, cognitive, and emotional factors. The strongest influence in determining on which side of the risk taking behavior scale the teens will fall appears to be the quality of relationship and sense of connection they feel with their school, family, peers, and community. It has been determined that risk taking behaviors almost always occur in the context of a relationship. The relationships are made up of interactions that shape the teens’ attitudes and provide a base from which they learn to make either safe or risk taking behaviors.

A recent advance in how adolescent risk taking behavior is understood is evidenced in the conclusion that many risk behaviors are interconnected, directly contradicting the previous understanding of adolescent behavior, which was that each risk taking behavior issue was independent of every other.  A possible strategy for reduction and prevention of teen high risk taking behavior is offered in the book, Adolescent Risk Behaviors.  The authors assert that while there have long been government and social agencies assigned to provide programs for at risk adolescents, due to funding and mandate[s], the agencies are often limited to addressing one risk taking behavior issue, pulling the focus from youth as a whole, to instead be more problem focused.  The proposed inclusive approach would provide the teens with knowledge about the dynamics of healthy relationships, provide them with growth opportunities, help them understand life’s challenges, responsibilities and how to develop the necessary skills to be successful in life. This approach would empower them in turn making them less vulnerable to, or accepting of the non-healthy examples of risk taking behavior they come into contact with daily.  While I agree that the authors’ plan is a very good idea, I don’t have the time to wait or help organize a program to be implemented in our community. My personal plan on how to keep, or at least minimize my teen from engaging in risk taking behavior, is simply to invest time into our relationship, spending much of that time talking with about her future life, helping her set and work toward achieving goals, encouraging her to stay on a positive track. Wish me luck!