Positive Emotions as a Moderator of the Associations Between Self-Control and Social Support Among Adolescents with Risk Behaviors

Abstract

The present study investigated the moderating role of positive emotions on the associations between self-control and social support with gambling and water-pipe smoking. One hundred fifty-five adolescents aged 12-19 (M=16.19) were contacted in 2011 at five centers for at-risk youth in Israel. Self-report findings indicated that positive emotions moderated the associations between peer social support and gambling and between self-control and water-pipe smoking. Among adolescents with higher rates of positive emotions, higher rates of self-control skills contributed to lower frequencies of water-pipe smoking. In addition, among adolescents with higher rates of positive emotions, higher levels of social support contributed to non-involvement in gambling behavior. The discussion centers on the mechanisms that can enable positive emotions to activate personality-related and environmental resources to curb adolescent risk behaviors.Keywords Adolescents . Positive emotions . Risk behaviors . Self-control . Peer social support During normal adolescent development, many youngsters engage in short-lived risk behaviors as a means to explore and experiment with personal and behavioral boundaries (Dworkin 2005) and as expressions of independence that can potentially yield social rewards among peers (Pickett et al. 2002). Risk behaviors-actions that may directly or indirectly harm youngsters' well-being, health, and life path-include the use of psychoactive substances, violence, drunk-driving, unsafe sex, gambling etc.

Waterpipe use in adolescents in Northern Sweden: Association with mental well-being and risk and health behaviours

“…A growing number of studies have reported an Waterpipe use in adolescents in Northern Sweden: Association with mental well-being and risk and health behaviours association between waterpipe use and cigarette smoking [1,13,14]. A few studies have also found that waterpipe use in adolescents is related to other risk behaviours, including use of e-cigarettes [15], snus, alcohol and narcotics [16], as well as gambling [17]. Although waterpipe smoking has been associated with risky health behaviours and can also lead to nicotine dependence [18,19], no prior studies have determined whether such behaviour is also associated with adolescents' mental well-being.…”

Encouraging positive emotions to cope with technostress’s adverse effects: insights into the broaden-and-build theory

“…This study explains that users with high self-control levels would usually have more self-confidence in their ability to overcome the requirements for new ICT's implementation (Gavriel-Fried and Ronen 2016). It means that ICT users could reduce the negative impact of technostress due to their self-efficacy.…”

The Role of Coping Skills for Developing Resilience Among Children and Adolescents

“…Beyond examining individual developmental pathways of vulnerable children and youth and their family resources as discussed previously, these studies have explored the health-enhancing capacities of the community and, especially, of the school system. Thus, protective factors at the community level may include peer relationships, non-family-member relationships, non-family-member social support, and religion, among others (Keyes, 2006;Gavriel-Fried & Ronen, 2016;Orkibi, Hamama, Gabriel-Fried, & Ronen, 2018).…”