Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health: 2. Vulnerabilities, Risk-Taking Behaviours, and Life Skills

Study Session 2  Vulnerabilities, Risk-Taking Behaviours, and Life Skills

Introduction

In this study session you will learn about some specific physical, socioeconomic and emotional vulnerabilities that adolescents have and the reasons why they are so inclined to take risks. Specifically, you will learn about risk taking behaviours such as impulsive decision-making, reckless behaviour, experimentation with substances and antisocial or even criminal activities. During the period of adolescence young people also tend to argue a lot both with peers and with people in authority (parents and other adults).They seem to be trying to find out how far they can go with this behaviour by testing the limits. As you will learn, they can become very emotional during these arguments and this may lead them to behave stupidly and sometimes violently.

You will learn about some of the important psychosocial and behavioural concerns that young people have. These include gender roles, feelings about self-worth, and relationships with family and peers, especially those of the opposite sex. We will also discuss the strategies that young people need to learn in order to negotiate with others through this period of transition when they often have confused thoughts and feelings. The skills and competencies that are needed to enable people to deal effectively with the challenges of everyday life are called life skills. By understanding the concerns of these young people and the strategies that they need to learn you will be able to help them achieve healthy development during the period of adolescence.