Health-Medical-Fitness-Diet-zk: Teen Survival Expectations Predict Later Risk-Taking Behavior

Some young people's expectations that they will not live long, healthy lives may actually foreshadow such outcomes.

New research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE reports that, for American teens, the expectation of death before the age of 35 predicted increased risk behaviors including substance abuse and suicide attempts later in life and a doubling to tripling of mortality rates in young adulthood.

The researchers, led by Quynh Nguyen of Northeastern University in Boston, found that one in seven participants in grades 7 to 12 reported perceiving a 50-50 chance or less of surviving to age 35. Upon follow-up interviews over a decade later, the researchers found that low expectations of longevity at young ages predicted increased suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts as well as heavy drinking, smoking, and use of illicit substances later in life relative to their peers who were almost certain they would live to age 35. "The association between early survival expectations and detrimental outcomes suggests that monitoring survival expectations may be useful for identifying at-risk youth," the authors state.

The study compared data collected from 19,000 adolescents in 1994-1995 to follow-up data collected from the same respondents 13-14 years later. The cohort was part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), conducted by the Carolina Population Center and funded by the National Institutes of Health and 23 other federal agencies and foundations.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our mental health section for the latest news on this subject. Citation: Nguyen QC, Villaveces A, Marshall SW, Hussey JM, Halpern CT, et al. (2012) Adolescent Expectations of Early Death Predict Adult Risk Behaviors. PLoS ONE 7(8): e41905. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041905
Financial Disclosure: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Public Library of Science Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

n.p. "Teen Survival Expectations Predict Later Risk-Taking Behavior." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 3 Aug. 2012. Web.
5 Aug. 2012. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

'Teen Survival Expectations Predict Later Risk-Taking Behavior'

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

duminică, 5 august 2012

Teen Survival Expectations Predict Later Risk-Taking Behavior