Late adolescent risk-taking: effects of perceived benefits and perceived risks on behavioral intentions and behavioral change

Adolescents report both positive and negative consequences of experimentation with cigarette use

“…This interpretation of data is consistent with research showing that perceived costs are not associated with changes in risk taking over time (Parsons et al, 1997;Tucker et al, 2003) and that smokers view potential costs of smoking as less important than do nonsmokers (Urberg and Robbins, 1981). Future studies should examine whether positive consequences of smoking indeed explain why adolescents incrementally increase their level of experimentation with cigarette use, and whether adolescents who experience positive consequences disregard concurrently experienced negative consequences.…”

“…The consequences that adolescents experience in relation to experimentation with cigarette use are of theoretical importance in understanding why they continue to smoke or discontinue smoking (Bonnie, 2001). However, most research has focused on adolescents' perceptions of potential outcomes or motivations for smoking (e.g., Bottorff et al, 2004;Epstein et al, 2000;Johnson et al, 2003;Nichter et al, 1997;Nichter et al, 2007;Parsons et al,1997;Urberg and Robbins, 1981; also see Halpern-Felsher et al, 2007, for a review). To our knowledge, no research has examined the percentage of adolescents who report specific consequences subsequent to experimenting with cigarette use.…”

“…More recently, research has examined other factors hypothesized to be of importance in maintaining risk behavior. First, perceived benefits have been recognized as being of equal or greater importance than perceived risks in understanding risky behavior, including cigarette use (Benthin et al, 1993;Goldberg et al, 2002;Halpern-Felsher et al, 2004;Parsons et al, 1997;Prochaska and Velicer, 1992). Second, research has examined adolescents' perceptions of short-term outcomes of smoking (Gritz et al, 2003;Halpern-Felsher et al, 2004;Prokhorov et al, 2002), which may be of greater importance in determining behavior than potential long-term outcomes (Halpern-Felsher et al, 2007).…”

“…Perceived social benefits to smoking are associated with increases in smoking involvement over time (Epstein et al, 2000). In one study, perceived benefits of risk taking, including cigarette smoking, were associated with increases in risk taking over a 3-month period, while perceived costs were not associated with changes in risk taking over time (Parsons et al, 1997). Adolescents who have tried smoking view potential costs (e.g., friends don't like smokers) as less important than adolescents who have never tried smoking, while potential benefits (e.g., feeling grown-up) are viewed as equally important by each group (Urberg and Robbins, 1981).…”

Búsqueda de sensaciones y consumo de alcohol: El papel mediador de la percepción de riesgos y beneficios

“…Así, en un estudio con 187 estudiantes de Psicología, Parsons, Siegel y Cousins (1997) observaron que la percepción de beneficios predecía mejor la implicación de los jóvenes en tres conductas arriesgadas: consumo de alcohol, consumo de drogas ilegales y conductas imprudentes.…”