June 2007
Youth Risk Taking
In June of 2000, Laura Duberstein Lindberg et al. published a report titled “Teen Risk-Taking: A Statistical Portrait.” According to the report, the most serious threats to the health and safety of adolescents result from risk taking behaviors such as fighting, substance abuse, suicide, and sexual activity, all of which are preventable. While overall risk taking behavior in teens has declined over the past decade (except among Hispanics), adolescents continue to engage in risk taking behaviors. This report provides a statistical portrait of teen participation in the most common risk behaviors:
The report covers three aspects of risk behavior: (1) changes in risk taking among high school students over the past decade; (2) incidence and patterns of multiple risk taking among teens; and (3) extent and pattern of involvement of multiple risk takers in school clubs, teen sports, religious services or youth groups, the workplace, and the health care system.
Risk taking behavior is natural and may be beneficial or harmful. In schools, risk taking behavior by students is necessary, yet some forms are a problem. The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools published “Youth Risk Taking Behavior: The Role of Schools” in June of 2007. As this report notes, in school the learning process itself is a risk, but a beneficial one. Schools must help faculty and students understand the benefits of risk taking behaviors and deal directly with those that are harmful to the students. This report highlights matters that motivate risk taking, their barriers to learning and teaching, and the roles school policies and practices play in stimulating or decreasing these behaviors.
Every two years, the Center for Disease Control collects data on six categories of priority health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults across the nation using surveys conducted by state and local education and health agencies. The YRBSS: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors (1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence, (2) tobacco use, (3) alcohol and other drug use, (4) sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, (5) unhealthy dietary behaviors, and (6) physical inactivity. North Carolina Healthy Schools provides data from the YRBS specific to North Carolina schools.
For the School Mental Health Training Series, Dr. Mark Stebnicki, professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at the East Carolina University School of Allied Health Sciences, developed a very helpful DVD and manual on youth risk factors. The DVD is titled The Identification and Early Intervention, Prevention and Preparation (IEPP) Program. The accompanying manual is titled Youth at Risk: Foundations of Adolescent Mental Health and Resiliency. Dr. Stebnicki describes the IEPP Programs as “an interactive instructional training program…for training school personnel, parents and teens to identify and assist in preventing at-risk behaviors in adolescents that may be harmful to self and others. For more information on the IEPP Program or to obtain the DVD and manual, contact Dr. Mark Stebnicki.
Other helpful resources include:
Education World - Students "At Risk"
Sociometrics: Science-based resources for researchers & practitioners