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Adolescent risk-taking
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The culture of adolescent risk-taking
by Cynthia Lightfoot
Book reviews:
�An in-depth exploration....With
a broad interpretive approach, locating human action within
the symbolic forms, communicative practices, and shared
idioms of culture, Lightfoot elucidates the cultural and
psychological processes through which risk acquires meaning
for teenagers and depicts the drama and daring of adolescent
social life.�
�...observations, taken from self-reports and interviews
with 41 teenagers contacted through a network of connections
from an original participant, are more detailed and
self-revealing than much of the traditional fare in
adolescence research. This is attributable both to the
ethnographic methods Lightfoot employs, and, one suspects,
to her skills as an interviewer who is decidedly
non-judgmental as she converses with her junior research
colleagues, as they clearly become....this is a valuable
contribution to the literature on adolescent risk-taking and
adolescent development more generally.�
Book Info
Text on adolescent psychology with emphasis on the
adolescent perspective rather than the adult view of the
adolescent. For psychologists
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The romance of risk: Why teenagers do the things they do
by Lynn E. Ponton
Book description:
In The Romance of Risk, Dr. Ponton refutes the traditional idea that
risk-taking is primarily an angry power struggle with parents �
so-called teenage rebellion � and redefines it as a potentially positive
testing process whereby challenge and risk are the primary tools
adolescents use to find out who they are and determine who they will
become. This new perspective is revealed in a series of mesmerizing
tales about individual adolescents and their families. Jill, a
13-year-old thrill-seeking runaway; Hannah, a privileged daughter of
suburbia who suffers from anorexia; and Joe, a high school senior with a
serious drinking problem. Through these stories, we come to understand
Dr. Ponton's startling observation that teenagers must confront and
experience challenge and risk along the path to self-discovery. In The
Romance of Risk, parents will learn how they can begin to understand
rather than fear adolescent risk-taking, and how to communicate with
their children about it. After all, teenagers will always romanticize
risk. But with the support and guidance of parents and other adults,
odds are the risks they take will be the right ones.
Book review:
�An important book for teens, their parents, educators, and anyone else
associated with the sometimes unfathomable adolescent years. Beginning
with an explanation of healthy versus destructive behavior, Ponton makes
it clear that taking risks is an important part of the developmental
process. However, unhealthy or self-destructive risk taking is another
matter, and teens must understand the causes of these behaviors in order
to change them. In a series of case studies, the author/psychiatrist
introduces teens she has counseled who exhibit a variety of dangerous
behaviors, including running away, unprotected sex, self-mutilation,
eating disorders, pregnancy, and bullying. Issues involved in the
mother-son and father-daughter relationships are clearly explored.
Divorce war dilemmas and their possible effects on a teen's actions are
explained. The importance of familial influence, of the provision of
healthy role models and open communication lines is ably demonstrated.
Although adults will find this an illuminating book, it will appeal to
YAs as well. It is readable, the case studies use teens that come from
various backgrounds and have different abilities, and the behaviors are
clearly explained. Many adolescents are likely to find a deeper
understanding of their own actions or those of their friends. Notes for
each chapter provides access to additional reading on the subjects
covered and the complete index makes research on a particular issue
easy.�
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Reducing adolescent risk : Toward an integrated approach
by Daniel Romer
Description:
In
introducing 39 papers based on a conference on adolescent risk
held at his campus in June 2002, Romer (Annenberg Public Policy
Center, U. of Pennsylvania) notes that while further research is
needed on linkage among health-compromising behaviors, the
agenda for a multilevel approach has emerged. Contributors
discuss views on teens as decision-makers and propose
alternative frameworks for research, prevention, and
interventions (e.g., EMOSA, "epidemic modeling of the onset of
social activities"). Many
risk behaviors have common developmental pathways. However, most
prevention strategies approach adolescent risk behaviors as
individual problems requiring separate solutions. This policy of
treating one behavior at a time encourages a fractured approach
to adolescent health.
Reducing Adolescent Risk: Toward an Integrated Approach focuses
on common influences that result in a number of interrelated
risk behaviors in order to design more unified, comprehensive
prevention strategies. Edited by Daniel Romer, this book
summarizes presentations and discussions held at the Adolescent
Risk Communication Institute of the University of Pennsylvania
Annenberg Public Policy Center. Concentrating on common causes
for varied risk behaviors, a group of leading researchers and
intervention specialists from different health traditions
synthesize current knowledge about risks to adolescent health in
several areas, including drugs and alcohol, tobacco, unprotected
sex, suicide and depression, and gambling.
Promoting healthy adolescent development, this innovative volume
includes:
- Results of the National Risk Survey
- Contributions from experts on adolescent decision making and
problem solving
- Research agendas for programs that reduce multiple risks
- Potential intervention strategies to reduce more than one risk
at a time
- Major findings from the conference that should be pursued in
future research
Primarily intended for graduate students, scholars, and
researchers in psychology, sociology, social work, and public
health, Reducing Adolescent Risk is also an extraordinary
resource for policy makers in government organizations and
foundations.
Book reviews:
�What an extraordinary volume! This book brings together current
research integrating adolescent risk and protection across a
wide range of topics and disciplines. It is a major contribution
to the field.� � Robert Wm. Blum, MD, MPH, PhD, Professor and
Director, Center for Adolescent Health and Development,
University of Minnesota
�This book is clearly the best source now available on the topic
of adolescent risk taking and its prevention. With chapters
written by the very best people in the field, describing the
latest thinking and findings, it is an essential guide and
resource for prevention researchers and program developers.� �
Bruce Simons-Morton, EdD, MPH, Chief, Prevention Research Branch
Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research,
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
�This report shines a bright light on the road our nation has
taken to improve adolescent health, the approaching fork, and
the path most likely to attain our destination.� � Lloyd J.
Kolbe, PhD, Director, Division of Adolescent and School Health,
U.S. Centers for Disease Control And Prevention.
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Adolescent risk taking
by Nancy J. Bell (Editor), Robert W. Bell
Book description:
With a focus on adolescents, this volume explores such questions
as: whether similarities exist between different types of risk
taking, such as mountain climbing and criminal behaviour; whether an
examination of risk-taking behaviour will shed light on problem
behaviours such as unprotected sex; and whether there are positive
aspects to adolescent risk taking.
With contributions from psychology, sociology, medicine and public
policy, the volume uses risk taking as a framework to study many
dangerous, and often life-threatening, adolescent behaviours.
Following a review of research, topics discussed include theories of
risky choice, the use of rational choice theory in predicting
heightened risk taking, sociobiological factors and intervention
programm
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New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior
by Richard Jessor
Book Description
Leading
experts present the most recent ideas and findings about the
variety of behaviors that can compromise adolescent development.
Among the topics explored are drug use, risky driving, early
sexual activity, depression, and school disengagement.
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Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence
by John Schulenberg (Editor), Jennifer L. Maggs
(Editor), Klaus Hurrelmann
Book description:
This book focuses on the different developmental transitions
during adolescence and young adulthood and relates them to risks
and benefits for young people's health and well-being. This book
advocates the broadening of the concept of health promotion to
include assistance with negotiating the several changes that
occur as individuals move into and out of adolescence. Chapters
from many of the most prominent researchers in the adolescent
field from several countries are included in this edited volume.
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Risky behavior among youths: An economic analysis (Conference
report)
by Jonathan Gruber
Book synopsis:
Every day young people engage in risky behaviors that affect not
only their immediate well-being but their long-term health and
safety. These well-honed essays apply diverse economic analyses
to a wide range of unsafe activities, including teen drinking
and driving, smoking, drug use, unprotected sex, and criminal
activity. Economic principles are further applied to mental
health and performance issues such as teenage depression,
suicide, nutritional disorders, and high school dropout rates.
Together, the essays yield notable findings: price and
regulatory incentives are critical determinants of high-risk
behavior, suggesting that youths do apply some sort of
cost/benefit calculation when making decisions; the
macroeconomic environment in which those decisions are made
matters greatly; and youths who pursue high-risk behaviors are
significantly more likely to engage in similar behaviors as
adults.
This important volume provides both a key data source for public
policy makers and a clear affirmation of the usefulness of
economic analysis to our understanding of risky behavior.
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Adolescent decision
making: Implications for prevention programs: summary of a
workshop
by Baruch Fischhoff, Nancy A.
Crowell, Michele Kipke, Youth, and Families Board
on Children
Book description:
Risk taking is a natural part of teenagers' lives. They need
to take some risks in order to grow, trying new activities,
generating new ideas, experimenting with new roles. However,
they can also get into trouble with their risk taking when it
involves behaviors such as sex, drinking, smoking, violence, and
drug use. Concern over such "risk behaviors" has led to the
creation of many interventions, based to varying degrees on the
growing scientific literature on adolescent development. Some of
these interventions have attempted to manipulate teenagers'
beliefs, values, and behaviors, hoping to get them to act more
cautiously. Other interventions have attempted to improve their
ability to make sensible decisions, hoping to get them to make
wise choices on their own. Having general decision-making skills
might enable teenagers to protect themselves in many situations.
In this context and at the request of the Office of the
Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, the Board on Children,
Youth, and Families and its Forum on Adolescence convened a
workshop on adolescent decision making. The workshop was held on
January 6 and 7, 1998, to examine what is known about
adolescents' decision-making skills and the implications of that
knowledge for programs to further their healthy development.
The workshop was designed to pull together the diverse
perspectives that researchers and practitioners have adopted,
when looking at adolescent decision making. In order to provide
a common frame of reference, the workshop used a decision-theory
perspective as an organizing device. The many distinguished
presenters described their evidence in terms of teenagers'
ability to make effective decisions. Some presenters focused on
decision making as a cognitive process. Others considered
social, affective, and institutional barriers to sound decision
making. Still others dealt with concurrent individual and
cultural changes that affect teenagers' ability to act in their
own best interests.
The ensuing discussions revealed the need to integrate these
different perspectives as a necessary step to helping teenagers
to deal with the many difficult choices that they face. A
summary report
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bocyf/Adolescent_Decision_Making.html
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Substance abuse and
dependence in adolescence: epidemiology, risk factors and
treatment
by Cecilia A. Essau
Book description:
Recent years have seen a growth in the numbers of studies of
substance abuse and dependence in adolescence, focusing on
prevalence, risk factors, comorbidity, course and outcome. At
the same time, numerous prevention and intervention strategies
have been developed. Substance Abuse and Dependence in
Adolescence presents a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art
empirical and practical information on this topic.
Cecilia A. Essau, along with an eminent group of international
researchers and clinicians, summarises the most recent empirical
findings and state-of-the-art knowledge on substance abuse and
dependence in adolescence and includes comprehensive information
on prevention and treatment. Substance Abuse and Dependence in
Adolescence contains:
- general issues related to substance use disorders
- epidemiology, comorbidity, course, outcome and risk factors
- the prevention and intervention of substance abuse and
dependence
- a discussion of progress and unresolved issues in substance
use disorders
- recommendations for future studies in the field.
Substance Abuse and Dependence in Adolescence will be an
invaluable resource for students, researchers, and other
professionals working in the fields of psychology, psychiatry,
paediatrics, social work and other mental health professions.
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The primal teen: What
the new discoveries about the teenage brain tell us about
our kids
by Barbara Strauch
Book description:
The first book to provide a scientific explanation of the
mysterious, infuriating, and downright weird behavior of
teenagers.
A mother paces the living room waiting for her sixteen-year-old
son to come home hours past his curfew. When he finally saunters
in, he answers every question with a blank stare, dashes to his
room, and slams the door. The mother, stunned and angry, thinks
�It�s just hormones, right?�
Wrong. While raging hormones and an inclination toward rebellion
are major players in the teenage drama, an area north of the
gonads is directing the show: the brain. In The Primal Teen,
Barbara Strauch examines the cutting-edge scientific discoveries
that are providing vital new information about what makes teens
tick.
Until recently, scientists believed the brain had largely
finished its development by the teenage years. But breakthrough
research by leading neuroscientists now shows that the
adolescent brain is an intensely busy work-in-progress,
transforming some sections, radically pruning the synaptic
connections, while strengthening those connections that remain.
This immense �rewiring� project provides new clues to explain
the swift mood changes, out-of-character responses and
reactions, and even the acts of sheer stupidity that have
puzzled parents throughout history. Strauch not only sheds new
light on these breakthrough findings, she shows how
understanding the basis of teenage behavior can lead the way to
a saner and smoother relationship between parents and their
kids. Through interviews with scientists, teenagers, parents,
and teachers, she explores common challenges � why teens can be
so articulate and mature one day and so morose the next, why
they engage in risky behavior, and why some kids struggle while
others bloom � and offers practical strategies to help parents
and kids manage these often difficult years.
The Primal Teen is a major step forward in deciphering and
responding to the moody metamorphosis all teenagers go through.
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