Adolescents' Risk Activities, Risk Hierarchies and the Influence of Religiosity

Abstract

The article discusses findings from a focus group and questionnaire survey of 954 Australian (Tasmanian) Year 11 and 12 students (aged 15 to 19 years), which identifies 26 activities assessed by respondents as of varying degrees of riskiness or dangerousness. Analysis associating personal risk assessment and risk activity across the sample reveals clusters of five groups of activity and associated risk behaviours by perceived degrees of risk (in the Risk Activity by Personal Risk Assessment [RAPRA] Index). The RAPRA index reflects the generally held hierarchies of risk, and by correlating subjective risk assessment and reported risk activity, taps into adolescent sociocultural constructs of risk and of risky behaviour. The investigation of internal group meanings of risk helps explain the adolescent 'logic' of risk taking, and its association with values, beliefs and normative frameworks. Findings indicate high levels of participation in a range of risky activities across the sample as a whole. These findings are striking because the sample was weighted to include churchgoing youth, and to investigate the impact of religiosity on risk taking. While gender was found to have no significant effect in terms of the RAPRA Index, comparison of the risk hierarchies of young people characterized as having a high level of religiosity with the rest of the sample demonstrates very clearly the inhibition which religious beliefs and commitment have on risk taking.