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Depressive Symptoms and Health‐Related Risk‐Taking in Adolescence
Author(s) -
Testa C. Rylann,
Steinberg Laurence
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1521/suli.2010.40.3.298
Subject(s) - anhedonia , suicide prevention , injury prevention , depressive symptoms , occupational safety and health , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , psychiatry , longitudinal study , medicine , clinical psychology , psychology , adolescent health , medical emergency , anxiety , nursing , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , pathology
This study investigated the relation between symptoms and a variety of health‐related risk‐taking behaviors during adolescence. A survey of 20,745 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provided data for analysis. Adolescents who reported more depressive symptoms were found to wear seatbelts less often, wear bike‐helmets less often, and drive while drunk more frequently. Depressive symptoms did not correlate with reported condom use. The found relations were all mediated by reported levels of hopelessness. Reported levels of anhedonia and suicidality also mediated some of the found relations. Therefore, adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms, especially those reporting hopelessness, should be considered at jeopardy for a variety of health‐related risk‐taking behaviors.