Teen Riskiness During a Global Pandemic: A COVID-19 Case Study

Abstract

Adolescent risk-taking is a normal part of human development. However, it’s this very behavior that leads to teen fatalities, poor mental health, and other unfortunate consequences. Societal changes, such as the pervasiveness of social media in the last two decades, have led to increases in risk-taking behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, sexual risk-taking, violence, and more . This beckons the question of how adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors are impacted, if at all, when other pervasive mediums or stress-inducing events are introduced into their lives —such as a global pandemic. 

This present research used COVID-19 as a case study and sought to address the relationship between teen risks prior to and during the pandemic. This investigation examined teen engagement in baseline risk-assessments, such as cheating on school assignments or tests, underage drinking, and nicotine product use, and COVID-19 risk. COVID-19 risky behaviors included exposing oneself to potentially unsafe contacts — in other words not adhering to social distancing guidelines. COVID-19 risky mindset measurements included perceived COVID-19 health risk ratings and responses to engagement in COVID-19 risky activity hypotheticals. Factors such as familial average income and gender were included in the analysis. Findings suggest positive relationships between engagement in baseline risk-assessments and both riskier COVID-19 behaviors and mindset.