To What Extent Is Risky Behavior a Feature of Adolescence - Essay Example

To what extend is “risky behaviour” a feature of adolescence? To what extend is “risky behaviour” a feature of adolescence? Young people are rebels who often protest against established rules and norms in their community. If something is forbidden, they can ignore the prohibition and do what they want. Adults believe that they can expect anything from adolescents due to their proneness to risky behaviours. The study of youth is always linked to researching risky behaviours in groups of adolescents and young adults because of its high frequency. Drinking, smoking, taking drugs and having early sexual life are 4 main risky behaviours in the focus. Despite all negative outcomes, it is impossible to prevent all teenagers from doing these things. Risky behaviours have several important meanings in adolescents; they signal maturity, create cool image and let teenagers express their identity in a ways which is accepted in their peer group. This essay will show how these 4 risky behaviours are presented in the UK context and what their meaning for adolescents is. Adolescence is often treated as a period that involves “risky behaviours, mood swings and conflicts with parents” (Furlong, 2013, p. 2). In particular, risky behaviours are so important for teenagers because they present their desire to protest against the established community rules and norms. Adults expect teenagers to violate the norms in search of their identity. Risky behaviours are treated as something cool in many groups of teenagers who do not treat their teachers as role models any more. Inspired by great examples of their friends, movie characters or celebrities, they try to use the same methods to be cool. It is the reason why they are experimenting with style, habits and leisure activities which are not always safe. In many ways, risky behaviours pave the way to being cool in the group and for many teenagers it is far more important than good marks at school. Not all teens have extreme lifestyles or resort to risky behaviours in their leisure time. Many young people spend their free time in a "traditional or even mundane" way (Furlong, 2013, p. 147). Many adolescents are choose conventional ways to express their identity; according to Furlong (2009, p. 42), young people report better health, active lifestyle and relatively low disability levels. At the same time, substance abuse, unintended pregnancies and experiments with drugs peak in this age group. Global world culture and the latest trends to have a healthy lifestyle positively influence youth around the world and reinforce positive behaviour models. Furlong (2013) supports this information by statistics from England where 82% of teenagers spend their free time watching TV, 83% listen to music or spend time with friends and family. Shopping malls, cinema theatres, night clubs and pubs are the centres of youth culture across the world. Unlike teenagers, adults tend to spend their free time reading books, gardening or eating out (Furlong, 2013, pp. 147-148). These numbers show that risky behaviour do not occupy the major place in lives of adolescents. They spend their time in accordance to major social trends that are always relatively safe. Digital revolution and viral popularity of social media services have strong influence on young people; many of them have sedentary lifestyle and develop a wide range of health issues which are not typical for their age. Facebook, Instagram and Youtube popularity change communication in circles of teenagers making it less personals and moving it to the digital space. Many young people spend more time with their computer than with their friends or family. Despite all these positive trends in youth, there is still another side of the coin. Experiments, which are so important for youth, should be both good and bad. They can have great sport achievements, but it does not mean that they forget about smoking or getting drunk. Antisocial or risky behaviour and its consequences are discussed in numerous resources in order to develop an effective strategy to prevent youth from it. There is a need to differentiate risky behaviour and experimentation. Young people are actively learning from their experience and they are prone to trying what they can or cannot do in their life. Most people try smoking and drinking during their adolescence under the influence of their peers. Risky behaviours are always related to the desire of teenagers to protest or to show their independence from parents and make their peers think that they are cool. Typically, the list of risky activities includes getting drunk, trying drugs of having sex. These activities are "risky" as all of them have negative consequences; drunken adolescents can resort to delinquent behaviour or simply suffer from intoxication. Drugs are dangerous because of the possibility of overdose and negative impact on health. Finally, sexual life often leads to unwanted pregnancies or infections. Most teenagers know enough about the consequences of their actions; at the same time, they still tend to try all these things. Curiosity, peer pressure and desire to be accepted by their group become the major factors why adolescents resort to risky behaviours. All of them are extremely important and it is possible to say that they make risky behaviour a necessary feature of adolescence. Drinking alcohol is the most widespread risky behaviour in the world. According to Furlong (2013), drinking alcohol is expected in social settings in Western cultures. It is the reason why moderate drinking is treated as an element of socialization. In some cultures like Italy or France drinking wine is a common thing and young people grow up with it. Young people do not know how and what to drink; it is the reason why their experiments with alcohol often lead to getting drunk. Surprisingly, in Western cultures getting drunk in adulthood is treated as a norm while teenage drinking is considered to be totally wrong. Almost all world countries have legal prohibitions regarding selling alcohol to teenagers; however, many young people manage to access alcohol and get drunk. Furlong (2009) states that young men drink more frequently than women. They tend to get intoxicated regularly especially if they drink together with their friends. Statistical data from Scotland shows that 80% of young men and 70% of young women drink alcohol regularly with 25% of men and 30% of women who drink over the recommended norm. UK is one of the world countries with leading numbers of young binge drinkers. Only four in 10 young men and 1 in 2 young women did not drink any alcohol during the past week. 26% of 15 year-olds drink alcohol at least once a week. The poorest situation is observed in Ukraine where 51% of 15 year-old men and 49% of their female peers drink alcohol at least once a week according to HSBC pool (Furlong, 2013, p. 177-178). The same pool shows that Scandinavian countries score the lowest result with 12% and 8% of 15 year-old females and males drinking once a week. The numbers are so high because the ability to drink is treated as a sign of maturity and coolness. Young people who avoid drinking without any proper reason are at risk to become outcasts in their group; however, it depends on the group itself. The study reveals that positive attitude to alcohol is enforced by media. 8 out of 10 TV programmes for teens in the UK make references to alcohol-related content every six minutes (Furlong, 2013, p. 178). Many festivals for young people are sponsored by energy drinks or global beer manufacturers. As far as adolescence remain the biggest target audience of all manufacturers, they are constantly attacked by various marketing campaigns which do not always promote some relevant products to them. Binge drinking is treated as a serious social issue because it has many negative outcomes in the adulthood. The study by Viner& Taylor (2007) concludes that teenage binge drinking leads to lack of qualification, alcoholism, homelessness, illicit drug use and psychological morbidity in the future. The line between experimentation and addiction is very thin. In this way, drinking alcohol is so important for teens and disturbing for their parents. Still, drinking alcohol becomes the main way to have fun in many teenage groups. Those adolescents who refuse to drink are at risk of being secluded from their group because of their inability to be like all their peers. Refusal to drink can also signal either disrespect to group members or violation of group norms; in both situations the person risks to lose authority and respect of others. Smoking is similar to alcohol in its social function. It is treated as a sign of coolness and maturity. Many people try smoking in the early adolescence and pass several stages until they become regular smokers. According to HBSC report, 62% of 16 year-old teenagers tried smoking cigarettes at least once in their lives (Furlong, 2009, p. 364). According to Biener & Siegel (2000), children in the UK are aware that big festivals and sport events are sponsored by tobacco brands. It boost the image of the companies and appeals to the audience of young consumers marketing their products as cool ones. Teenage smoking is really dangerous because people who start smoking being teenagers tend to smoke in the adulthood. Smoking has a wide range of negative consequences like lung cancer; active anti-smoking campaigns help to reduce the number of smokers around the world. However, the percentage of smoking youth remains high because it is related to experimentation typical for this age group. Night life cultivated by adolescents has a danger of getting drugs too close to them. Marijuana remains the most widespread drug in the word and it is the most popular with young audience. In Holland where marijuana is legalized, people can purchase small doses of drugs legally and consume them in specially created place. In the UK where marijuana is still illegal around 80 000 young people are charged because of drug possession (Furlong, 2013, p. 180). Further investigation shows that 1in 5 teenagers in the UK used marijuana at least once during past 6 months. Other drugs like cocaine and ecstasy are consumed by only a small minority of young people. Cannabis is the way popular than hard drug because there is a high degree of acceptance of its use in the UK. It is believed that this drug is not addictive and it has almost no negative results. The truth is that all drugs negatively influence mental and physical health of adolescents. It is proved that teenagers who are prone to risky behaviours are more likely to become young offenders (Furlong, 2013, p. 188). Youth groups where drugs become a part of culture are closely related to criminal activities like drug trafficking. Drug use depends on the lifestyle followed by teenagers and their friends. It is proved that peer influence in the strongest in groups of adolescents. Drug use is extremely dangerous because it leads to intoxication and even deaths. Early sexual life is another risky behaviour that receives much coverage in medical research. Experiments with sex are very common in groups of teenagers because they are physically ready for them. Early sexual life boosts authority of teenagers in their group and creates an image of maturity around them. The median age of the first sexual intercourse in the UK is 16 for both women and men (Tripp & Viner, 2005). Moreover, around 18% of men and 15% of women report full sexual intercourse or oral sex before the age of 15. About 10% of boys are stoned when they are having sex for the first time. Almost 35% of all cases when adolescents have their first sex happen without any contraception that leads to immediate consequences (Tripp & Viner, 2005). As well as smoking and drinking alcohol, early sexual life signifies the transition from childhood to adulthood. Unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections are the consequences teens have to face if they do not take care about their health. HIV/AIDS pandemic hits adolescents who tend to have many sexual partners and avoid using condoms. While the frequency of HIV/AIDS infections tends to slow down in the developed countries, developing countries have really issue with the high rates of infected teenagers (Furlong, 2009). Teen pregnancies and births are monitored in every community because they negatively influence well-being of children and young parents. Adolescents are not ready to be parents because they are financially and psychologically dependent on their parents. According to Furlong (2013), almost 60% of girls who become pregnant under 16 make an abortion. Still, those girls who make a pro-life choice have to face numerous consequences of their decisions. Teenage mothers have to stop their education; as a result, many of them end up with a high school diploma and no opportunities to get well-paid and prestigious jobs. Children born by under-age mothers have great risk to grow up in poverty. To add to the point, adolescents are not ready to live as a family and share their responsibilities equally. Teenage single mothers have to rely on their parents to bring up their children and take care of themselves. This problem is really loud in the UK where "2.9 out of every 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 giving birth every year" according to the article published in Daily Mail (Doughty, 2014). Overall, all these 4 mentioned types of behaviour are referred as risky ones only in the context of adolescence. Sexual life and drinking in the context of adulthood are perceived as a norm. The issue with drugs is different because it crosses the limits of the law. Obviously, the majority of teens resort to all of these types of behaviour but it is nothing more than experimenting. Curiosity motivates them to try both good and bad things in order to learn about their life empirically. Their desire to try “adult life” is clear because they want to show that they are not children any more. Some young people manage to show their independence more effectively by studying hard and starting to work early; however, many of them choose drinking or smoking to express their new identity, values and aims. Peer-influence is another factor that forces teenagers to make risky choices. Young people who do not smoke, drink or initiate sexual life tend to experience peer-pressure related to their reluctance to try forbidden things. Refusal to drink or smoke can be perceived as a sign of immaturity or fear. Even if drinking or smoking is illegal, young people tend to violate these rules to look cool in their group. Reputation matters a lot for teenagers because their peers become their main authorities in life. Adolescents are more likely to join subcultures, be active fans of music bands or festival-goers. Spending most of their time with their friends, they are always at risk of being offered something forbidden. Obviously, clubbers are more likely to try drugs than their peers who prefer to spend their time playing video-games. Summing up, teenagers need to prove that they are not little kids any more. Many young people choose the path of responsibility and persuade their friends and parents by making the right choices aimed at making their future better. At the same time, there are many adolescents who believe that they can show their maturity acting like adults. Smoking, drinking or early sexual life are treated as a signs of maturity is many groups of teenagers. Obviously, those teens who do not try them are thought to be worse than others. They can become outcasts in their groups where coolness is measured by the number of forbidden things done. Despite the common stereotype that all adolescents do something risky regularly is wrong; many of them have conventional lives with ordinary hobbies. Even in these cases risky behaviours appear as a part of experimentation with a purpose to get more life experience. Overall, it is impossible to prevent all cases of risky behaviours in groups of adolescents; it is their nature to make different choices in order to understand what is right for them. Education is the only right way to inform young people about consequences of their actions and make them be responsible for everything they do. References Biener, L., & Siegel, M. (2000). Tobacco marketing and adolescent smoking: more support for a causal inference. American journal of public health, 90(3), 407. Doughty, S. (2014) UK tops the league of teenage pregnancy. Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-28860/UK-tops-league-teenage-pregnancy.html Furlong, A. (2013) Youth Studies: An Introduction. London: Routledge. Furlong, A. (ed.) (2009) Handbook of Youth & Young Adulthood. London: Routledge. Tripp, J., & Viner, R. (2005) Sexual health, contraception, and teenage pregnancy. BMJ, 330(7491), 590-593. Viner, R. M., & Taylor, B. (2007) Adult outcomes of binge drinking in adolescence: findings from a UK national birth cohort. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 61(10), 902-907. Read More