Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability Concepts and Measurement (2001) / Chapter Skim
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2. Perceptions of Risk and Vulnerability
2. Perceptions of Risk and Vulnerability
Pages 15-49
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From page 15... ...
As a result, risk perceptions play a fundamental role in behavioral intervention programs, which try to get adolescents to recognize and acknowledge their own vulnerability to negative outcomes. The ability to judge risks also is considered to be an essential element of decision-making competence, according to theorists, researchers, and practitioners in the behavioral sciences, medicine, social work, law, and social policy (Gittler et al., 1990; Hodne, 19951.
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From page 16... ...
We acknowledge that answers to these questions will not give a complete picture of why adolescents engage in risky behavior other crucial questions remain, such as whether adolescents are competent decision makers or able to apply their decision-making skills in all situations. Nevertheless, a focus on risk perception is a reasonable vantage point from which to consider adolescent risk and vulnerability.
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From page 17... ...
Risks for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are quite high among youth who have highly connected sexual networks involving people who live in areas of high infectivity.
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From page 18... ...
These formal comparisons of adults' perceptions of adolescents' risks with adolescent perceptions of their own risks is confounded by the fact that the adult is judging risks for another person and such judgments are typically higher than personal risk judgments (Weinstein, 1980,1983,1984; Whalen et al., 19941. Conceptualizing and[Measuring Perceptions of Risk and Vulneraloility There are many ways to conceptualize and measure perceptions of risk and vulnerability.
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From page 19... ...
In contrast, a situation-specific or conditional risk judgment is one in which explicit mention of an antecedent condition such as a situation or a behavior is made (e.g., how likely are you to get an STO if you have unprotected sex?
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From page 20... ...
Concerns related to substance use, sexual behavior, nutrition, and exercise rank lower in most adolescent samples (Eme et al et al., 1986; Sobal et al., 19881. Age Differences in Adolescents' Concerns ., 1979; Feldman Observed age differences in health concerns are consistent with the developmental tasks faced by adolescents.
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From page 21... ...
For this reason, perceptions of vulnerability may be a closer reflection of adolescents' beliefs about their vulnerability. Perceptions of Vulnerability Data from numerous studies indicate that adolescents feel vulnerable to experiencing negative outcomes.
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From page 22... ...
worry about AIDS decreased over a two-year period. Thus, in contrast to popular views that adolescents do not worry or concern themselves about risks, the data indicate that many, and in some cases most, adolescents report feeling vulnerable to negative outcomes.
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From page 23... ...
Age Differences in Risk Identification Studies examining age differences in adolescents' ability to identify risks report conflicting findings. Lewis (1981)
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From page 24... ...
Furthermore, most studies that have examined age differences in risk identification report age-related increases in individuals' awareness and consideration of risks (Ambuel, 1992; Beyth-Marom et al., 1993; Lewis, 1981~; fewer have failed to find such differences (Lewis, 1980; Weithorn and Campbell, 1982~. Although it is not clear whether there are absolute points at which one should be considered competent in identifying risks, the finding of age-related increases in risk identification does call into question the degree to which we should consider adolescents, particularly younger adolescents, competent.
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From page 25... ...
(2000) compared adolescents' risk judgments with data for estimating actual risk.
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From page 26... ...
Age Differences in Risklud~gments Earlier, we noted that risk judgments could be nonconditional or conditional. When we move to review age differences in judgments of personal
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From page 27... ...
These risk judgments are more useful as their meaning is less dependent on factors such as the behavioral characteristics of the respondent (Ronis, 1992; Van der Velde et al., 19961. The use of nonconditional risk judgments is especially troubling in studies examining age differences in risk perception because experience is a known source of variation in risk judgment (Gerrard et al., 1996b; Van der Plight, 1998)
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From page 28... ...
However, preliminary analyses of aclolescents' risk judgment for STDs indicate that among sexually inexperienced ninth graclers, there is a significant decrease over a one-year period in their perceived risk of personally getting an STD if they have unprotected sex (from a mean risk judgment of 43 percent to a mean of 36 percent)
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From page 29... ...
The magnitude and direction of the findings remained consistent across different types of risk judgment measures. The differences also remained significant after controlling for experience with the behavior and the negative outcomes.
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From page 30... ...
If we view risk judgments as literal expressions of risk status, a different picture emerges one of adolescents as far less accurate than adults. Demographic Correlates of Risk and Vulnerability Perceptions Several individual-level demographic factors have been hypothesized to influence perceptions of risk and vulnerability, including gender, race/ ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
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From page 31... ...
The limited research available generally shows that in comparison with white adolescents, black adolescents think more about their health (American Cancer Society, 1979; Sobal et al., 1988) , have more health concerns (Sobal et al., 1988)
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From page 32... ...
For example, studies have examined differences between smokers' and nonsmokers' judgments of risk for getting lung cancer or have compared personal risk estimates of contracting HIV among individuals who do and do not engage in unsafe sex. These studies found that individuals with behavioral experience rate their risk of experiencing negative outcomes as higher than do nonengagers (Cohn et al., 1995; Gerrard et al., 1996b; Gladis et al., 1992; McKenna et al., 1993; Moore and Rosenthal, 1991, 19921.
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From page 33... ...
For many risky behaviors, few adolescents will experience negative outcomes, thus making it difficult to ascertain the effects of negative outcomes on behavior. However, outcomes such as sexually transmitted diseases are prevalent enough to make their study possible, at least in terms of understanding the role of direct personal experience.
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From page 34... ...
Indeed, although behavioral and decision-making models propose a key role for risk perception, they also articulate other critical influences on behavior, such as perceptions of benefits. The Role of Perceived Benefits The theoretical importance of benefits is recognized in the decisionmaking literature, which posits that individuals consider both risks and benefits (e.g., a cost-benefit model)
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From page 35... ...
(2001b) also argue that rather than interpreting the relatively smaller risk estimates of older respondents as biased perceptions of"invulnerability," a better explanation is that they are adjusting their perceptions on the basis of both their positive experiences and the failure to experience negative outcomes.
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From page 36... ...
RISK JUDGMENT: A DEVELOPMENTAL-ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE We have described how judgments of risk can vary among inclivicluals, as well as how behavioral experiences ancl the social environment can influence these perceptions. But the information we have presented is static; it does not integrate what we know about the enormous changes that take place during the adolescent years as a function of cognitive clevelopment, psychosocial clevelopment, ancl changes in the nature of the social environment.
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From page 37... ...
As a result, younger adolescents are less able to consider the possibility that a contingency is false, or to consider that alternative causal relations are possible (Kuhn et al., 19881. This would suggest that younger adolescents would be more likely than older adolescents or adults to believe what they have been taught about causal relationships between risky behaviors and negative outcomesnamely, that engaging in these behaviors entails significant risk.
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From page 38... ...
This suggests that even when people confront evidence that risk behaviors can lead to negative outcomes (e.g., through increases in their vicarious exposure to negative outcomes) , they would maintain their theories of low perceived risk rather than to react with judgments of increased risk.
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From page 39... ...
Existing research has offered us insights into how adolescents view risk and vulnerability, identified some of the important correlates of these constructs, and raised interesting questions concerning the effects of these perceptions on adolescents' behavior. It also has suggested to us some important next steps for a comprehensive research agenda and for program development, and some implications for a broad range of social policies concerning adolescents.
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From page 40... ...
The need for definitive studies concerning the risk perception-risk behavior relationship cannot be overstated. Because of the theoretical importance of the perceived risk construct to behavior, prevention and intervention programs frequently invest a great deal of effort trying to get adolescents to recognize and acknowledge their own vulnerability to negative outcomes.
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From page 41... ...
Furthermore, we have suggested that such an emphasis may backfire as adolescents become aware of the reality that most experiences with risky behaviors do not lead to negative outcomes and are in fact experienced as positive. A more appropriate goal in educating youth about health risks may be to find ways to translate small probabilities into real possibilities, without raising anxiety to unproductive levels.
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From page 42... ...
Learning more about adolescents' perceptions of the benefits associated with engaging in risky behaviors could help in this endeavor. Perceived benefits typically are not studied, perhaps because of adults' understandable reluctance to acknowledge those benefits.
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From page 43... ...
To the degree that emotion is important, it would also have implications for the ways in which we study risk perception, suggesting that we create study environments that mimic the kinds of emotionally arousing situations in which judgments about risk are typically made. The importance of risk perceptions theoretically, in program development, and in defining standards of decision-making competence warrants rigorous study.
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From page 44... ...
. Perceived consequences of risky behaviors: Adults and adolescents.
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From page 45... ...
. Predictors of HIV-preventive sexual behavior in a high-risk adolescent population: The influence of perceived peer norms and sexual communication on incarcerated adolescents' consistent use of condoms.
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From page 46... ...
. Adolescent and adult errors in health risk judgments due to the representativeness heuristic.
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From page 47... ...
rather than probability. Organizational Behavior eF Human Decision Processes, 66(1)
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From page 48... ...
. Late adolescent risk-taking: Effects of perceived benefits and perceived risks on behavioral intentions and behavioral change.
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From page 49... ...
British Journal of Health Psychology, 3, 1-14. Van der Velde, F
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