/6Risk taking in behavior of adolescence: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” Plato Introduction: Having read the article about the risk taking in youth and having analyzed the statistics I was rather surprised to see such great disparities between the numbers of risk taking adults and adolescent. It is precisely when I remembered the Napoleons saying that teenagers make the best soldiers because they are willing to die for a colorful ribbon that his army was so willing to provide. As a future High school teacher I personally believe that it is imperative for me to know exactly what prompts the teenagers (adolescent in particular) in to certain actions including risk-taking. In the following essay I am going to speak about risk taking behaviors of adolescent based on the information provided in the article as well as from other sources, depict the factors of most interest as well as present my personal opinion on the given matter and comment on how such information can be of value to me in my future teaching career. Body: From the information provided in the article one can see that people in their adolescence are more likely to get involved in various risk-taking activities that would bring them popularity, freedom from the adults, as well as future prospects. Whenever a person does not see any future prospects for himself/herself they are more likely to engage in risk taking activities based on the nothing to lose phenomenon.
The Essay on Risk Taking Behaviors In Adolescence 2
... not address now. To summarize the information concerning the issue of risk taking behavior in adolescents lives, that I have presented, I ... have nothing to loose attitude towards risk taking. Adolescents who have low expectations for their future may feel that they have nothing ... minority status, gender, and socioeconomic status, according to the article. These two factors are the most influential ones ...
Nothing to lose attitude is the attitude that develops in people who cannot see the point of their education, life, or future. Such adolescent according to the article are more likely to engage in reckless behavior including, drug, and alcohol abuse, unprotected promiscuous sex, illegal activities and even crime. When people do not see any hopes in tomorrow, when they do not attend college, do not have good jobs or own a house they can take extra risks, because they know that they are not risking their reputation, school, career, or house. Such people, although understanding the illegitimacy of such behavior, repeatedly act in such manner, because they have nothing to lose (Blum, 2001).
Education is another great point expressed in the article as well as in works of Vygotsky on pedagogy regarding the risk taking in adolescents. The fact that, especially when both parents work, a child gets a lot of information from school, and peer; things that surround him most often leads the reader to understanding the importance of educational process and its great influence on the adolescent risk-taking behavior. Vygotsky’s work (1962/1986) has shown that education links thought and action. Vygotsky suggests that learners participate in social action with assistance from more experienced learners, gradually becoming more independent and building the thought that moves the learning transactions forward.
Thus education is central to this action-thought connection. Learners are immersed in social interactions, while the language plays a critical role as learners focus on new questions and unfamiliar contexts, learning happens and learners transform. Mr. Vygotsky (1978) also points out that much of what we learn we learn from others. The essence of this theory is that learning often occurs through observation and imitation, sometimes through interaction with and questioning of others already proficient in the desired behavior. Vygotsky in addition considered the potential for learning which a child might have within a given stage. Two children might be in similar stages at similar levels of development, yet have different potentials for learning based on many aspects of their individual social circumstances. What Vygotsky and other scientists have pointed out is that risk taking behavior can be encouraged by the education facilities.
Great Depression Teachers School Education
During the Great Depression receiving an education was becoming more and more difficult for southerners. From not being able to afford the required supplies needed, to not being able to pay the tut ions, many people found it nearly impossible to attend school. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shows how the lack of education in society during the Great Depression affected ...
In other words, the a given school encourages the boys to be strong, athletic, fast, and aggressive, while at the same time encouraging girls to wear short skirts, constantly change the partners, then at some point of time many of the boys and girls who do not match the requirements will attempt get popularity through their attempts to become strong or sexy. Without a proper knowledge of what constitutes strong or sexy, such teens are more likely to break the speed limits, engage in spontaneous sexual activities, abuse drugs and alcohol or start smoking. Teamed up with the nothing to lose attitude mentioned above such desire to match the standard that is set by the peers in school that basically educate each other of what is right and what is wrong leads students into what we consider risk-taking behavior. A reader therefore can relate the importance of personal affluence and school (or other educational facility) in formation of the risk-taking behavior in adolescent. The poor schools usually have children from poor families who are more likely to experience nothing to lose attitude. And because school also results in informal education of the children attending it, the adolescent are more likely to develop a risk taking behaviors (Blum, 2001).
Sex is another important aspect that in some terms belongs to risk taking behavior. Unprotected sex, or sex with a stranger, albeit may sound fantastic to some people, to the others sounds like a serious risk that people take that ultimately can result in unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, mental break downs and even death (Breen, 2002).
Drug taking is almost always the expression of risk taking behavior that shows everybody that a person is able to disobey their parents, and remain in opposition to the law and standards that society sets for everyone. It is apparent that intravenous drugs can also easily transmit AIDS and other diseases, while drug inhalations (marijuana, cocaine, cigarettes) or substance abuse (Prozac, LSD, Speed etc) are proven to cause various nervous damages, and even cancer. Carrying a Weapon was another thing that the article mentioned to be the expression of a risk-taking behavior. It was considered apparent that if carried gun usually had some purpose be it to scare everybody else, to shoot some one or to keep it for self-protection (Blum, 2001).
The Essay on Risk Taking Behaviors In Adolescence
... lose" attitudes on risky behavior in adolescence. University of North Carolina Press, 2002.Lightfoot, C. The culture of adolescent risk taking. New ... In order to undertake healthy alternatives to dangerous risk taking, adolescents need the active help and support of ... & Millstein, 1991). Adolescents who initiate health-risk behaviors such as sexual intercourse and involvement with drugs at an early ...
At the same time without special education a mishandled gun can cause unwanted injuries of the person who carried it or of the people around the person with the gun. The article proved that risk takers are more likely to carry a gun.
Opportunity cost is the logical explanation of the human acts that usually finds application in economics. The article that I have read speaks about the opportunity cost that is closely associated with the risk taking behavior of the adolescent as well as the nothing to lose attitude. In other words, if a person thinks about some promising future that includes their going to college, obtaining a scholarship, and getting a good job, they are less likely to take drugs, engage in sex (especially females for whom sex can result in addition to disease to unwanted pregnancy), cause violence or break the law (Breen, 2002).
If a person estimates that by stealing a computer from a computer lab, he will go to jail for one year which can be spent on work that would result in even more money than needed to buy a computer, he is not likely to try to steal it. Yet if such person believes that the only job he can have is in local McDonalds their attitudes to stealing, drugs or spontaneous sex that might cause pregnancy is rather lax: after all they do not have a career to lose. Conclusion: In conclusion I would like to say that the article I have read together with additional materials is of great educational value to me who wants to be a future high school teacher.
I understood about the importance of the high school education with regard to either encouraging or discouraging risk-taking behavior. I understood that nothing to lose attitude usually results from the lack of funds, or even from the lack of a mere hope not only in adolescent but also in adults. Spontaneous sex, drug intake, speeding, gun carrying, smoking, and drinking are the usual expressions of risk taking behavior in adolescent. The opportunity cost that is used by the adolescent to assess their actions usually causes less affluent people with less hopes or expected prospects to act recklessly, risky and in contradiction to the laws and the society. I personally understand that my duty as of a future teacher would be to instill the hope in the people, and stress the importance of the education that will result in the future benefits for the adolescent. Thus, instead of just letting the teens get it their way, I would actively promote alternative ways to achieve success rather then through the nothing to lose attitude.
The Term Paper on Adolescent Sexual Behavior
Introduction Adolescent sexual behavior refers to sexual feelings, behavior, and development in adolescents. It is a stage of human sexuality. The sexual behavior of adolescents is influenced by their culture’s norms and mores, their sexual orientation and the issues of social control. Sexuality is a cultural issue. For humans, sex is a matter of cultural meaning and personal choice than ...
Bibliography: Evaluating the role of “nothing to lose” attitudes on risky behavior in adolescence, Kathleen Mullan Harris, Greg J. Duncan and Johanne Boisjoly, University of North Carolina Press 2002. Peter Blum, The opportunity cost in human behavior, McGraw Hill, 2001. Richard Breen, The pedagogy of the adolescent, NY Random House, 2002. http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Mail/xmcamail.2002_06.dir /0084.html http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/cri sis/.
