These materials on adolescent risk-taking were prepared by the Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families from the work of Lynn E. Ponton, MD, author of The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do. The materials appeared on a listserve for journalists who cover children and youth.
Guiding a Child or Teen in Risk Assessment
Prepared by Lynn E. Ponton, M.D.
(1) Healthy risk-taking is a positive tool in an adolescent's life for discovering, developing, and consolidating his or her identity.(2) It is important to remember that learning how to assess risks is a process that we work on throughout our lives. Children and adolescents need support, tools, and practice in order to do this.
(3) Young children give clues about how they do or don't take risks (e.g., how they ride a bike or skateboard, how they handle a new social situation). These clues contribute to styles or patterns of risk-taking.
(4) Although there are many styles, certain patterns can be seen, such as the cautious risk-taker, the middle-of-the-roader, the adventurer or high-end risk-taker, the teen whose risk-taking increases when he or she is with friends.
(5) Risk-taking can be accelerated in one area -- social, physical, intellectual, artistic, or sexual, for example -- and not in others.
(6) Helping a child or teen understand or define his or her own risk-taking pattern is important.
(7) This includes helping the child understand how and why he or she makes both healthy and unhealthy choices. Questions to ask
- Do you feel pressured to make risky choices by friends?
- Do you rush into decisions?
- Do you think it is uncool to try things in a safe manner?
- Are dangerous risks more exciting? Do they feel more like you?
- Do you make dangerous choices to show others?
- Does it feel as though it's happening "in a dream" when you make dangerous choices?
(9) Adults can share what we have learned about risk-taking. A nonjudgmental and nonbragging manner is most helpful. It is often most important to share feelings and mistakes.
(10) Risk-taking can be practiced and learned in healthy, supportive situations.
ADOLESCENT RISK-TAKING: HEALTHY vs. UNHEALTHY
adapted from
The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do
by Lynn E. Ponton, M.D.
(Basic Books, 1997) Healthy risk-taking is a positive tool in an adolescent's life for discovering, developing, and consolidating his or her identity. Adolescent risk-taking only becomes negative when the risks are dangerous. Healthy risks -- often understood as "challenges" -- can turn unhealthy risks in a more positive direction, or prevent them from ever taking place to begin with.
It is important to remember that learning how to assess risks is a process that we work on throughout our lives. Adolescents need both support and tools to be able to do this. Below are some suggestions for healthy alternatives to unhealthy risk-taking. In order to undertake healthy alternatives to dangerous risk-taking, adolescents need the active help and support of the adults in their lives, including parents and teachers. Any of the healthy risks in the right-hand column are excellent alternatives to any of the behaviors shown on the left.
| UNHEALTHY RISK BEHAVIOR | HEALTHY RISK ALTERNATIVES |
| Dangerous dieting, eating disorders | Physical activities such as sports teams, horseback riding, in-line skating, walking, or jogging |
| Using drugs or alcohol | Under the supervision of a trained expert, engaging in outlets for extreme physical and emotional thrills such as white-water rafting, rock climbing, camping, etc.; creative activity such as joining a band or the production of a play |
| Running away, staying out all night, living on the streets | Learning or practicing a creative art form such as photography, pottery, video, dance, or creative writing |
| Unprotected sexual activity | Learning to talk about sex and relationships, working on open communication with partners and parents |
| Gang violence, weapons, bullying, scapegoating | Seeking out new friends, volunteering in the community, participating in a student exchange program, transferring to a new school if necessary |
| Shoplifting, stealing | Getting a part-time job such as baby-sitting, camp or after-school counselor, retail clerk in clothing or music store, tutoring |
TEN TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Understanding Your Adolescent's Behavior
from The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do
by Lynn E. Ponton, M.D.
(Basic Books, 1997)
(1) All teenagers take risks as a normal part of growing up. Risk-taking is the tool an adolescent uses to define and develop his or her identity, and healthy risk-taking is a valuable experience.
(2) Healthy adolescent risk-taking behaviors which tend to have a positive impact on an adolescent's development can include participation is sports, the development of artistic and creative abilities, volunteer activities, travel, running for school office, making new friends, constructive contributions to the family or community, and others. Inherent in all of these activities is the possibility of failure. Parents must recognize and support their children with this.
(3) Negative risk-taking behaviors which can be dangerous for adolescents include drinking, smoking, drug use, reckless driving, unsafe sexual activity, disordered eating, self-mutilation, running away, stealing, gang activity, and others.
(4) Unhealthy adolescent risk-taking may appear to be "rebellion" -- an angry gesture specifically directed at parents. However, risk-taking, whether healthy or unhealthy, is simply part of a teen's struggle to test out an identity by providing self-definition and separation from others, including parents.
(5) Some adolescent behaviors are deceptive -- a teen may genuinely try to take a healthy risk that evolves into more dangerous behavior. For example, many adolescent girls fail to recognize the trap of dieting and fall into a pattern of disordered eating, sometimes even developing a full eating disorder. Parents need to be well informed in order to help their adolescents with such struggles.
(6) Red flags which help identify dangerous adolescent risk-taking can include psychological problems such as persistent depression or anxiety which goes beyond more typical adolescent "moodiness"; problems at school; engaging in illegal activities; and clusters of unhealthy risk-taking behaviors (e.g., smok ing, drinking and driving recklessly might be happening at the same time, as might disordered eating and self-mutilation, or running away and stealing).
(7) Since adolescents need to take risks, parents need to help them find healthy opportunities to do so. Healthy risk-taking, not only important in itself, can help prevent unhealthy risk-taking.
(8) Adolescents often offer subtle clues about their negative risk-taking behaviors through what they say about the behaviors of friends and family, including parents. Parents often stay silent about their own histories of risk-taking and experimenting, but it can be important to find ways to share this information with adolescents in order to serve as role models, to let teens know that mistakes are not fatal, and to encourage making healthier choices than those the parent may have made during his or her own adolescence.
(9) Adolescents look to their parents for advice and modeling about how to assess positive and negative risks. Parents need to help their teens learn how to evaluate risks and anticipate the consequences of their choices, and develop strategies for diverting their energy into healthier activities when necessary.
(10) Parents need to pay attention to their own current patterns of risk-taking as well. Teenagers are watching, and imitating, whether they acknowledge this or not.
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