PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCES OF RISKY BEHAVIORS - ADULTS AND ADOLESCENTS

Adult and adolescent Ss were asked to list possible consequences of ei ther accepting or declining opportunities to engage in various potenti ally risky behaviors (e.g., drinking and driving, skipping school to g o to a mall). Response patterns were quite similar for these adults an d adolescents, indicating shared beliefs about the possibilities. Alth ough taking and avoiding a risk are logically complementary actions, t hey did not prove to be psychologically complementary. Other compariso ns showed systematic differences in the consequences produced for one- time and regular (or repeated) versions of the same behaviors, as well as for open-ended and closed-ended response modes. These results are discussed in terms of their methodological implications for studying r isk perceptions, their practical implications for influencing adolesce nts' risk behaviors, and their theoretical implications for understand ing intellectual development.