Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults in the United States
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Chapter 16. Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults in the United States

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Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults in the United States

This activity explores the risky behaviors U.S. teens are most likely to demonstrate, according to data compiled by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

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young adults with cigarettes and prescription drugs
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Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is a national school-based survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state, territorial, local, and tribal education and health agencies. The YRBS summarizes results for 104 health-risk behaviors, plus obesity, overweight, and asthma, from the survey results of students in grades 9–12. Some of these behaviors appear in the interactive table below.

Click on each image (or use arrows) to view the percentage of U.S. high school students who said they…

Results from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Results from the 2013 YRBS indicate that many high school students are engaged in risky behaviors associated with the leading causes of death among U.S. adolescents and emerging adults. Fortunately, these population-based data help officials monitor the effectiveness of public interventions designed to protect and promote the health of teenagers throughout the United States.

woman putting on her seat belt in a car
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1. The dangers of wearing a seat belt vs texting while driving

Relatively few (7.6%) high school students said that they rarely or never wore a seat belt, whereas 41.4% reported having texted or emailed while driving during the 30 days prior to taking the survey. What factors might account for this significant discrepancy, especially since texting while driving is arguably much riskier than not wearing a seat belt?
Your answer might address the teenager’s early-maturing amygdala (instinctual thinking and poor impulse control) and/or the immaturity of the prefrontal cortex (lack of decision-making skills and inability to measure risks). You could also touch on the invincibility fable, teenagers’ need for social connectedness, or even the longevity of public intervention programs and ad campaigns promoting seat-belt use versus the relative recency of state bans on cell-phone use while driving.

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REFERENCES

MMWR. (2014, June 13). Youth risk behavior surveillance — United States, 2013. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 63(4).