Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Eur J Public Health. 2019 Feb 1;29(1):38-43. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cky169.
Risk-taking behaviour among adolescents, particularly those experiencing childhood adversities, can predispose to injury, unwanted pregnancy, long-term morbidity and death. Resilience, i.e. adapting to threats and thriving, has rarely been examined as a protective factor for adolescent risk-taking. We studied whether the malleable traits of empathy, confidence, self-control and optimism, all markers of resilience, align with decreased risk-taking despite adversity, among 11-15 year olds.
From responses of 22 643 Canadian youth to the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (2014) survey we validated a five-item resilience scale. Using regression analyses, this scale and a single measure of self-control were considered as potential protective factors for a composite measure of risk-taking behaviour and of initiation of sexual activity before age 14.
There was a dose-dependent association between greater resilience and diminished risk-taking for boys and, even more so, among girls. This relationship remained significant after controlling for family and social support, implying that greater resilience may override the detrimental impact of childhood adversity on risk-taking. The least resilient youth were most likely to report early sexual activity, although this relationship was not linear. Generally, the impact of self-control on risk-taking was not statistically significant, perhaps because of shortcomings of the self-control indicator.
Brief screening protocols can identify assets that protect against risk-taking behaviours among adolescents. The malleable nature of these traits offers primary care providers and public health personnel a novel and effective route to decreasing adolescent risk-taking and fostering future health.
青少年的冒险行为，尤其是那些经历过童年逆境的青少年，可能会导致受伤、意外怀孕、长期患病和死亡。适应威胁和茁壮成长的适应力，即韧性，很少被视为青少年冒险行为的保护因素。我们研究了在 11-15 岁的青少年中，同理心、信心、自我控制和乐观等韧性的可塑特征是否与逆境中冒险行为的减少有关。
从 22643 名加拿大青少年对《青少年健康行为》（2014 年）调查的回应中，我们验证了一个由五项组成的韧性量表。使用回归分析，该量表和单一的自我控制措施被认为是冒险行为和 14 岁前开始性行为的综合衡量标准的潜在保护因素。
对于男孩来说，韧性越大，冒险行为就越少，而且这种关系在控制了家庭和社会支持后仍然显著，这表明韧性可能会抵消童年逆境对冒险行为的不利影响。最没有韧性的青少年最有可能报告早期性行为，尽管这种关系不是线性的。一般来说，自我控制对冒险行为的影响并不显著，也许是因为自我控制指标存在缺陷。
简短的筛选方案可以识别出保护青少年免受冒险行为影响的资产。这些特征的可塑性质为初级保健提供者和公共卫生人员提供了一条新颖而有效的途径，以减少青少年的冒险行为，促进未来的健康。
