Perspectives on Teen Risks

Researchers have estimated that as many as one in four adolescents between ages 10 and 17 are in need of assistance because they are at high risk of engaging in multiple problem behaviors. Although ethnic-minority youth seem to have higher prevalence rates (i.e., because they may more often live in poorer, urban environments), the majority of multiproblem youth are White and male (Dryfoos, 1997). Researchers have compared inner-city youth to suburban adolescents and found that both groups experienced emotional distress and substance abuse, with higher levels among the more affluent teens (Luthar & Latendresse, 2002). In addition, so-called “normative risks,” such as depression, may have different outcomes for sexual-minority youth who simultaneously experience peer harassment and discrimination (Russell, 2005). Unique risk factors for sexual-minority adolescents include (adapted from Russell, 2005)

• Coming out at a young age (e.g., associated with increased suicide)
• Coming out at school (e.g., related to peer harassment)
• Conflict with parents over coming out (e.g., linked to running away)

In defining who is at risk, adolescents needing prevention services should include not only those teenagers who may not yet have initiated a problem behavior (e.g., smoking or drinking) that can have negative outcomes (i.e., lung cancer or drunk driving) but also those whose demographic, social, or personal characteristics predict that they are vulnerable (Dryfoos, 1997). Recent research on adolescents’ judgments of “what is risky” has found that teenagers were likely to perceive themselves as vulnerable to personal risks, such as getting drunk, injured, or pregnant—even when controlling for experience and age differences (Millstein & Halpern-Felsher, 2002).