New Study Reveals Surprising Cause of Risky Behavior in Teens

After the death of pop star Michael Jackson, CNN Headline News reported that those close to the icon revealed that Jackson believed he would die at a relatively young age.

The results of a study of 20,000 teenagers over the course of 6 years seems to suggest that Jackson’s fatalistic mindset may have contributed to some of the alleged behaviors that led him to his death in June. 

Historically, experts and parents alike have assumed that teenagers and young adults who engage in risky behavior believe they are invincible; the “it can never happen to me” mindset. Iris Borowsky, pediatrician and researcher from the University of Minnesota tells WebMD that the aforementioned study reveals that the opposite is true: those teens who believe they will die young tend to take more risks than those who believe they will live longer lives.

Jordan Babcock, a 20 year old University of Arkansas student, isn’t surprised by the findings. “In my graduating class alone, 4 kids were killed as a result of risky behavior (2 from methamphetamine overdose and two in alcohol related car accidents), and all four of them seemed to have a death wish. A couple of them even continued to act out even after their closest friends died doing the same things.”  

One segment of the study questioned 15 and 16 year olds on exactly how long they expected to live. One out of every 5 students predicted they would die before the age of 20, a far higher percentage than actual reality (only 1 out of 250 kids perish by their 20th birthday, according to the National Center of Health Statistics).

Risky behavior has long been the bane of parents of teenagers as they try to assess the best ways to dissuade their kids from acting out inappropriately. The new study links pessimism to extreme risk; parents who recognize such a mindset in their teenagers may be able to steer the teen in the right direction before it’s too late.

Fatalism, however, isn’t the only predictor of teen age risk taking. Parents and researchers alike agree that alcohol leads to behavioral anomalies. However, another study highlighted in the journal “American College Health” points to another chemical culprit: energy drinks. Lead researcher Kathleen Miller (addiction researcher from the University of Buffalo) reported in the journal that mixing alcohol with energy drinks makes teens feel less drunk, even though they are just as mentally impaired as they were before they downed a few Red Bulls. This feeling of empowerment leads directly to what Miller refers to as “toxic behavior”: unprotected sex, substance abuse and violence. 

by Rachel Stockton