Motives for risk-taking in adolescence: a cross-cultural study.

Most research on adolescent risk-taking has been conducted in Western societies, but it is as yet unknown whether motives to engage in risk behaviours show cultural variety. This study sets out to investigate differences in perceived motives to engage in perceived risks in Turkish and Welsh samples of young people (N=922) between 14 and 20 years of age. For this, a measurement scale to assess motives for risk-taking was constructed and validated cross-culturally. The scale was based on Kloep and Hendry's [(1999). Challenges, risks and coping in adolescence. In D. Messer, & S. Millar (Eds.), Exploring developmental psychology (pp. 400-416). London: Arnold] theoretical framework and the results of a study by Güney and Cok [(2006). Adolescent risk-taking: Calculated risks, Turkish experience. In Paper presented at the 10th Bi-annual conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence, Antalya, Turkey]. Results show that different motives are associated with different risk behaviours, confirming Kloep and Hendry's expanded model. There were small, but significant, national differences, implying that motives to take risks-as opposed to actual risks taken-could be similar across adolescent populations, independent of culture.

Young people in 'drinking' societies? Norwegian, Scottish and Swedish adolescents' perceptions of alcohol use.

The paper studies young people's reported drinking behaviors and their views on various social aspects of alcohol, utilizing a sample of over 4000 rural adolescents aged 11.8-16.5 years in Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The methodology employed includes a common questionnaire and a range of varying qualitative approaches (essays and focus group interviews). The various venues and drinking contexts used by young people, their motives for drinking, and their 'learning' experiences with alcohol are described. Beyond nationality, the most powerful predictors of 'high' drinking are 'involvement with friends' and 'participation in commercial leisure'. The predictors for 'low' drinking are 'involvement in activities with parents' and 'parental concerns about drinking'. Results show that Scottish teenagers drink most, Norwegians least and no differences in the predictor variables are found that can explain this. Results are discussed in relation to social and cultural differences, and illustrated by quotations from rural young people in Scotland and Sweden.

Love is all you need? Focusing on adolescents' life concerns from an ecological point of view.

Focal theory, in trying to explain why the majority of young people cope comparatively well with the variety of transitional tasks they are confronted with during adolescence, suggests that adolescents deal with only one issue at a time: concerns about heterosexual relationships peak around 11, concerns about peer acceptance around 15, and about relationship to and independence from parents at 15 for girls and 17 for boys. However, the model has been criticized for not taking into account economic problems and unemployment. The present study sets out to empirically test the implications of focal theory with a large Swedish sample of 1217 adolescents between 11 and 20 by means of a school-based questionnaire. Young people answered how often they worry about relationship, economic, global and other personal issues. Results show that focal theory should not be taken literally with regard to certain age-related sequences of problems. However, the main concept proposed by Coleman, i.e. that the number of problems dealt with has implications for adolescents' psychological well-being, is strongly supported by the data in this study. Finally, the notion that young people can choose how many issues they focus upon at a time is critically discussed.