Australian Adolescents' Perceptions of Health-Related Risks

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Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate adolescents' perceptions of their risks in five health-related areas and ascertain the relationship between risk perception and actual risky behavior. As well, five "event characteristics" postulated by Weinstein to be associated with unrealistic optimism about future life events were assessed to determine their links with beliefs about personal risk in the areas chosen: AIDS, STDs, serious car accident, lung cancer, and skin cancer. The study sample comprised 189 first-year psychology students, aged 17 to 20 years, who volunteered to complete a questionnaire concerning these issues. Results indicated that although late-adolescent students did underestimate their risks to some extent, they were also able to make some discriminating judgments about the relative likelihood of various negative events, based on characteristics of both their own behaviors and the events in question They showed only limited evidence of "adolescent vulnerability. "

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