Risk Behaviour in Adolescence (eBook)

Patterns, Determinants and Consequences

Matthias Richter (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2010
123 Seiten
VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
978-3-531-92364-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Dr. Matthias Richter is a Professor for Medical Sociology and Social Epidemiology at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Bern.

Inhalt

Preface 6
Contents 8
List of figures 10
List of tables 11
1 Introduction 14
1.1 Background 14
1.2 Aims of the study and research questions 17
1.3 Structure and content of the volume 21
2 Conceptual framework 23
2.1 What is risk behaviour? 23
2.2 Risk behaviour in adolescence: a general framework 24
2.2.1 Risk behaviour as reaction to developmental tasks 26
2.2.2 Functions of risk behaviour 28
2.2.3 Integrative model of risk behaviour 30
2.3 Determinants of adolescent risk behaviour 32
2.3.1 Age and gender 33
2.3.2 Socio-economic status 35
2.3.3 Peer and school context 37
2.4 Consequences of risk behaviour 40
3 Material and methods 43
3.1 Research context 43
3.2 The “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)” study 44
3.3 Data collection procedures and samples 45
3.3.1 International data 46
3.3.2 German data 48
3.3.3 Northrhine-Westphalian data 49
3.4 Instrument and variables 50
3.4.1 Risk behaviour 51
3.4.2 Parental and ‘own’ socio-economic status 51
Family affluence 52
Parental occupation 53
Type of school 54
Academic achievement 54
3.4.3 Peer and school factors 55
School factors 55
Peer factors 55
3.4.4 Health outcomes 56
3.5 Statistical analyses 58
Age and gender differences and patterns of adolescent risk behaviour 58
Socio-economic determinants and patterns of adolescent risk behaviour 58
The role of social context for adolescent risk behaviour 59
Consequences of adolescent risk behaviour 59
4 Results of the empirical studies 61
4.1 Age and gender differences and patterns of risk behaviour in adolescence 61
Age and gender differences in risk behaviour in Germany 62
Age and gender patterns over time 64
Age and gender patterns across countries 67
4.2 Socio-economic determinants and patterns of adolescent risk behaviour 71
Socio-economic differences in risk behaviour in Germany 71
Trends in socio-economic differences in risk behaviour 76
Socio-economic differences in risk behaviour across countries 79
4.3 The role of social contexts for adolescent risk behaviour 83
4.4 Consequences of risk behaviour 86
Consequences of risk behaviour in Germany 86
Consequences of risk behaviour across countries 89
5 Discussion and perspectives 92
5.1 Summary of the results 92
5.2 Implications and perspectives for research and practice 96
Implications for research 96
Health promotion implications 99
References 104

Textauszug

5 Discussion and perspectives (S. 91-92)

The single studies summarised here support and extend the current theoretical and empirical knowledge on risk behaviour in adolescence. The analysis is among the first to systematically examine adolescent risk behaviour from a comparative perspective over time and across countries using the same data. The study further follows a multidimensional model and looks at determinants as well as consequences of risk behaviour. Its methodological strengths lie in the use of a large representative dataset and the availability of various widely used and internationally tested measures. This final chapter will provide a short summary of the study’s main findings and elaborate on their implications for future research and practice.

5.1 Summary of the results

First, the results indicate that all risk behaviours showed remarkable patterns in terms of age and gender. Health-compromising behaviours such as tobacco and alcohol use increase with increasing age, while engagement in positive behaviours declines with age. Moreover, boys and girls showed different patterns of risk behaviour.

The whole range of risk behaviour constitutes different areas of risk. In general, boys showed more externalising and evasive forms of risk behaviour (such as bullying or drunkenness) while girls showed more internalising forms (e.g. skipping breakfast). These age- and gender-specific findings support existing regional studies with representative data from Germany using based on comparable age groups and measures (e.g. Appel & Hahn, 2001, Hüttner et al. 1997, 1998, Roth 2002, Raithel 2003a/b).

They also support recent findings from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Childern and Adolescents (KiGGS) (Lampert & Thamm 2007, Lampert et al. 2007). So far, comparable data on risk behaviour across countries, including Germany, has been rare. The results based on international HBSC data showed that there are large differences in the diffusion of risk behaviours between countries. Compared to other countries, Germany performs rather badly in respect to many risk behaviours.

One-third of 15-year old German students smoked weekly – as many as in no other European or North American country. Germany is also among the five countries that showed the highest regular alcohol use and the highest rates of bullying. Furthermore, the international comparison showed there was a relatively low level of physical activity. Despite the large differences in prevalence across countries, the findings showed that age and gender patterns are largely universal across countries. Age-related trends in risk behaviour were found in almost all HBSC countries and are similar for a variety of different types of behaviour.

It appears that these shifts are a universal phenomenon and demonstrate just how common it is for young people to engage in such behaviours. The general gender patterns in risk behaviour were also supported by international HBSC data. In almost all HBSC countries boys show higher prevalences of externalising and/or evasive forms of inappropriate coping behaviour. Interestingly, gender differences in tobacco smoking were generally lower than for other substance use behaviours. In some countries, mostly western European countries, girls also reported higher rates of smoking than boys. On the other hand, girls were more likely to report that they frequently consume healthy food and are less likely to consume unhealthy food (see also Currie et al. 2008a).

However, in all countries they were more likely to skip breakfast and were physically less active. These findings illustrate that there are different issues of concern for girls and boys. The trend data from Northrhine-Westphalia suggested that these age and gender patterns also show a strong persistence over time (see also Leppin & Richter 2008, Settertobulte & Richter 2007). The findings are similar to the results of other German studies. For example, the German Drug Affinity Study also found that the rates of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use among 11-to 15-year olds increased during the 1990s and decreased again after 2002 (BZgA 2004, 2005a/b, 2007a).

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.9.2010
• Zusatzinfo: 123 p.
• Verlagsort: Wiesbaden
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: adolescence • Gesundheit • Jugend • Nation • Pubertät • Risikoverhalten • Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 3-531-92364-1 / 3531923641
• ISBN-13: 978-3-531-92364-2 / 9783531923642