An examination of the concept ‘risk taking’ and its application to the contraceptive behavior of youth

The concept ‘risk taking’ is re-analyzed in order to reach some formulations which may enhance the research on risk behavior related to sexual intercourse without adequate contraception, especially among late adolescents. Literature on decision making under conditions of uncertainty and on perception of risks, is used as a frame of reference for the conceptual analysis. ‘Risk taking’ is broken down into three distinct components: (1) Perception of risks and their magnitude; (2) assessment of the ability to cope with risks; and (3) engaging in taking risks. A secondary analysis of data from a study of the incidence of abortion relative to that of accidents in general, and from studies on the perception of contraceptive risk relative to other risks, revealed some interesting patterns. Late adolescents showed a much greater incidence of both abortion and accidents; they also perceived the risks involved in contraception as greater than did adults, both in absolute terms and relative to other risks. When rearranged, the data revealed some associations between the activities and technologies that youth perceived as less risky than adults did and also between those that they perceived as more risky. It is hypothesized that these associations are not spurious. Further, they suggest that the activities and technologies grouped together have some common characteristics which may be important to the understanding of contraceptive behavior of youth. Implications for research, education and services are discussed.