中華心理衛生協會

Adopting a risk-taking perspective, the aim of this study was to examine the extent of adolescents' risk involvement in nine behavior areas; their perception of risk, fun and personal control to these behaviors; the relationship between risk involvement and perception of risk, fun and personal control; and related gender and grade level differences. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 958 junior and senior middle school students and 77 adolescents under court surveillance in Taipei City. Results indicated that adolescents risk involvement in different behavior areas were interrelated. The most frequently involved risk behavior areas were among those reflecting normative developmental needs, rather than those of serious societal concerns. Older adolescents, boys and court sample reported risk involvement more frequently than younger adolescents, girls and non-court sample. They also rated the behaviors as less risky, more fun and more of personal control. Together, gender, grade level, perception of risk, fun and personal control were found to be significant predictors of risk behaviors, with perception of fun consistently significant and the most powerful predictor. Implications of these findings for future research and intervention were discussed.