Risk-Taking Among Older Youth at the Outset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA

Abstract

A robust literature suggests that older adolescents, aged 18 to 21 years, routinely engage in unsafe behaviors that range from smoking, driving recklessly, and drinking to sexual risk-taking. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak sparked renewed interest in risk-taking behavior among young people because as asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, young people may have contributed to early community spread and increased mortality rates among older and vulnerable populations in Wuhan, China. The central question addressed in this chapter is whether self-perceived health status, knowledge of COVID-19, anxiety over COVID-19, and trust in the media were associated with youth risk-taking at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study results offer three meaningful insights into risk-taking among older youth at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, being male is associated with higher risk-taking. Second, experiencing little fear over a very young family member, a healthy adult family member, an elderly family member, or oneself contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with increased COVID-19 risk-taking. Third, increased knowledge of COVID-19 marginally reduces risk-taking among male youth. The chapter suggests that gender and race are more than just markers for classifying and comparing health behaviors and outcomes; they may interact with other social factors to structure adherence or nonadherence to preventive health behaviors among older youth.