Risk Behaviors-General
Number of unique resources found: 58
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Buffalo State College Center for Studies in Creativity, Creativity Links!
Description: A comprehensive list of links to creativity sites on the web including creativity associations, consultants and trainers, educational and related programs, inventions, and other sites of interest.
Description: This is a manual about community monitoring systems. Monitoring the well-being of children and adolescents is a critical component of efforts to prevent psychological, behavioral, and health problems and to promote their successful development. Research during the past 40 years has helped identify aspects of child and adolescent functioning that are important to monitor. These aspects, which encompass family, peer, school, and neighborhood influences, have been shown to be associated with both positive and negative outcomes for youth. As systems for monitoring well-being become more available, communities will become better able to support prevention efforts and select prevention practices that meet community-specific needs.
Description: This site provides tips and resources for parents and educators to protect children from Internet dangers.
Wisconsin Clearinghouse of Prevention Resources
Description: This web-based clearinghouse of information includes resources on various topics including prevention and youth development. Additionally, it includes sections on advocacy, evaluation, training, and funding.
– Evaluation –
Author: Scott, Dawn (4 more by this author)
Description: Literature review, bibliographies, links, resources and evaluation measures relating to youth risk taking.
– General Information –
Description: The Dylan Blake Foundation for Adolescent Behaviors A Non-Profit Educational Organization founded when 11 year old Dylan A. Blake unexpectedly passed away in October 2005 from a tragic accident. Dylan's death was due to his participation in the dangerous asphyxiation activity known as the "Choking Game".
Cinnamon Challenge: New Teen Thrill-Seeking Activity Can Be Risky
Description: A new thrill-seeking activity popular among teenagers called the "cinnamon challenge" can be risky, warns the American Association of Poison Control Centers. In the cinnamon challenge, teens are dared to swallow a spoonful of ground or powdered cinnamon, without drinking any water.
Cyberbullying: What Parents and Educators Can Do 
Description: Both parents and educators who work with young people are concerned about the dangers of cyberbullying. In response to the national focus on these issues, CYFERnet continues to focus on cyberbullying and sexting—what parents and educators need to know and what they can do to help young people in their families, schools and communities.
Fact Sheet on Latino Youth: Income & Poverty
Author: Brindis, C. (6 more by this author); LT Valderrama; MA Biggs; AK Driscoll
Description: This fact sheet provides information and statistics about Latino youth income and poverty. Poor children are at greater risk than non-poor children for a host of negative outcomes. They are more likely to perform poorly in school, to become teen parents, and to be unemployed as adults. In addition to facing a greater risk of living in poverty, Latino children often confront additional challenges such as language and cultural barriers, and the stresses of adjusting to US society for immigrant families.
Fact Sheet on Mortality: Adolescents & Young Adults
Description: This four-page fact sheet provides statistics and information about adolescent mortality in the United States.
Fact Sheet on Unintentional Injury: Adolescents & Young Adults
Description: This fact sheet provides statistics and information about adolescent unintentional injury in the United States.
Families for Depression Awareness
Description: The mission and purpose of Families for Depression Awareness is to: help families recognize and cope with depressive disorders; help families recognize and manage the various forms of depression and associated mood disorders; reduce stigma associated with depressive disorder; and unite families and help them heal in coping with depression.
FDA Investigates Possible Link Between Monster Energy Drinks and Five Deaths
Description: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports that five people have died since 2009 after they consumed Monster energy drinks.
Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play (G.A.S.P.)
Description: Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play (G.A.S.P.) an international not-for-profit association founded for the purpose of putting an end to the Choking Game--an asphyxiation activity that causes the needless death of children and suffering of communities. To achieve this goal, GASP partners with other organizations that include Choking Game education as part of their overall message.
Summer Safety Tip: Talk With Your Kids About Tough Issues
Description: This article reminds parents to talk with their kids “about some of the other challenges they may face during the upcoming months (and that they will face at some point in the upcoming years), like alcohol, drugs, sex, and violence. We don't immediately associate these dangers with summer. But they are risks that kids encounter more frequently when they have free and unsupervised time. So as you make sure that your children are ready for the pool and the park, take the opportunity to talk with them about other risks too.”
Talking with Kids About Tough Issues
Description: Talking With Kids About Tough Issues is a national initiative by Children Now and the Kaiser Family Foundation to encourage parents to talk with their children earlier and more often about tough issues like sex, HIV/AIDS, violence, alcohol, and drug abuse.
Teen Talk: But Everybody’s Doin’ It…
Author: Dworkin, Jodi (10 more by this author)
Description: A fact sheet for parents about how to talk to their teenager about risk-taking and decision making.
Teens and Online Health Research
Author: Nordby, Ann (24 more by this author)
Description: Teens research health issues online, but often do not know where to turn. Social networking sites do not offer expert information on teens' top health concerns and there is a need for a knowledgeable source.
The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking
Description: This site provides information and resources related to victims of human trafficking.
The Choking Game: CDC´s Findings on a Risky Youth Behavior
Description: This CDC page highlights the risks associated with the choking games and warning signs that a child or adolescent may be involved in the game.
Description: This CDC report compiled news media reports to estimate the number of deaths from the choking game from 1995-2007. Most of the deaths were among males, and the mean age was 13.3 years.
Whip-Its Again Becoming Popular Among Teens
Description: Whip-Its--small canisters filled with nitrous oxide--are once again becoming popular among teens and young adults as a recreational drug, ABC News reports. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Whip-Its are the most popular inhalant among young adults.
Description: The increase in youth technology use in recent years can be viewed both positively and negatively. Youth can put themselves at risk using the internet and cell phones. However, these technologies also provide unique and effective ways for programs to reach youth. The following CYFERnet resources provide a variety of information and resources about youth and technology.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
Description: The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is a voluntary system that includes a national survey and surveys conducted by state and local education agencies. The YRBSS provides vital information on risk behaviors among young people to more effectively target and improve health programs. The site contains fact sheets, reports, the questionnaires, results and data files.
– Other Resources –
Description: Keynote speaker Angela Diaz at the 2011 USDA/DoD Family Resiliency Conference. Despite their significant health and mental health needs, teens make fewer physician visits than any other age group. Minority and poor adolescents, though less healthy than white adolescents have far less access to insurance and care. The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center model – best described as a philosophy in action – was a carefully designed response addressing the health disparities faced by poor urban youth. Dr. Diaz describes the disparities faced by many urban teens, the Center’s youth development approach and engagement philosophy, and how effective services are developed.The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center is a unique program of free, integrated, interdisciplinary primary care, reproductive health, mental health and health education for teens.
National Organizations for Youth Safety
Description: NOYS is a collaborative network of national organizations and federal agencies that serve youth and focus on youth safety and health. Our vision is to be the premier national youth health and safety coalition. Our mission is to promote youth empowerment and leadership and build partnerships that will save lives, prevent injuries, and promote safe and healthy lifestyles among all youth.
– Professional Development –
Texting While Driving: It Can Wait (Archived Webinar)
Description: This webinar was sponsored by the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS), AT&T, National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB), and the CYFERnet Teen Editorial Board in November 2012. This webinar addresses the topic of teens and distracted driving, exploring ways to engage and empower youth to be peer educators on this critically important issue. Approximately 24% of all crashes (1.2 million) are estimated to be caused by cell phone use while driving (National Safety Council, 2012). Distracted driving was responsible for 18% of injury crashes in 2010. Teens and young adults are at a particularly high risk for distracted driving. A 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project study reports that 26% of 16-17 year old teens have texted while driving. Cell phone use while driving is even higher among teens. Presenters from the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS), AT&T, National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB), and a survivor of distracted driving will explore ways to engage and empower youth to be peer educators on this very important issue.
– Programming Resource –
Description: ACT for Youth—Assets Coming Together for Youth —aims to strengthen community partnerships that promote positive youth development and prevent risky and unhealthy behaviors among young people, aged 10 to 19. The A C T for Youth initiative is a project of the New York State Department of Health, and was developed in cooperation with the Partners for Children.
Adolescents and Risk: Helping Young People Make
Description: This publication explores how adolescents consider risk and offers suggestions for new intervention strategies.
Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents and Young Adults
Description: This site summarizes Cornell's research on self-injurious behavior and provides links and resources for information on detecting, treating, and preventing self-injurious behavior (SIB) in adolescents and young adults.
NCFY Recommends: Lessons Learned Conducting Youth 'Point-in-Time' Counts
Description: A recent webinar highlights lessons learned from youth-inclusive point-in-time counts.
Research Roundup: Online Social Networks May Protect Homeless Youth From Negative Influences
Description: Studies from the University of Southern California School of Social Work suggest that youth workers should consider encouraging homeless youth to connect and stay connected to friends and family from home using cell phones and social media.
Teen Risk-Taking: Promising Prevention Programs and Approaches
Author: Eisen, Marvin; Natalya Bolshun; Carolyn Bradner; Christina Pallitto
Description: This link to the guidebook and program compendium provides an essential first step in bridging the gap from "research to practice." It explores some of the practical issues associated with finding, choosing, and starting potentially effective prevention programs for at-risk preteens and teens.
Author: Gengler, Colleen (7 more by this author)
Description: A fact sheet for parents about how to deal with teens and parties.
Author: NMSU Learning Games Lab, (1 more by this author)
Description: Treadsylvania is a fun, engaging Web-based interactive game, designed to help learners ages 8-18 understand how to ride All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) safely via a visually appealing adventure game that can be played in short bouts (less than an hour). This game helps youth understand: Why helmets and safety gear are essential when riding, Why you can only have one rider on an ATV, How being “rider active” (using your balance and position to steer and control your ATV) works, Why ATVs shouldn’t be ridden on asphalt or , and What kinds of trail you can ride on and which you should avoid. It is a game that feels like an adventure game and appeals to a wide range of players, particularly those players who may not think they are likely to ever ride an ATV, but may do so anyway. Even more importantly, the player had to really understand the reasons behind safety recommendations, so if they didn’t remember the “tips and suggestions”, they would get on an ATV and understand for themselves the safety risks.
Youth Risk Taking Behavior: The Role of Schools
Description: "This brief covers (1) What Schools Do with Respect to Risk Taking Behavior, (2) Concerns about Current Approaches, (3) What Should School Do? including Recommendations for School Policy and Planning."
– Research –
Adolescents and Risk: Helping Young People Make Better Choices
Author: Wargo, Eric
Description: Drawing on the research of Valerie Reyna and colleagues, this article explores how adolescents consider risk, offering suggestions for new intervention strategies.
An Ecological, Risk-factored Approach for Addressing Youth-At-Risk Issues
Author: Bogenschneider, Karen (2 more by this author); David Riley; Stephen Small
Description: A research report that presents a prevention model, reviews current research on risk factors and protective factors that influence the well-being of youth, and suggests implications of this research for developing comprehensive, community-based, prevention programs.
Bright Idea: Communication, Flexibility, Patience Key to Agency-Researcher Partnerships
Description: This article discusses what is needed for effective research partnerships that help document evidence-based practices for runaway and homeless youth.
- More about "Bright Idea: Communication, Flexibility, Patience Key to Agency-Researcher Partnerships"
Description: The high school dropout crisis in the United States is a problem with far-reaching economic and social effects, not only for the individuals who dropout, but also for society. The national graduation rate in 2009 is estimated at 69%, however there are significant differences among youth ethnic groups. The National Dropout Prevention Center has identified 15 effective strategies for dropout prevention applicable to community organizations and programs; that work is discussed here.
Feeling Ashamed Can Trigger Aggression in Adolescents with High Self-Esteem
Description: A study in the December issue of Child Development found that adolescents with high self-esteem are more likely to react aggressively when they feel ashamed than are their peers with lower self-esteem. Researchers found no support for the traditional theory that low self-esteem is an underlying cause of aggression; in fact, they found that high self-esteem increases the incidence of narcissistic, shame-induced aggression.
Individual and Contextual Variables Related to Risk Behaviors and Resiliency Among Diverse Youth
Author: Perkins, Daniel (17 more by this author); Joanne Keith; Richard Lerner
Description: This study explored the interrelationships of six risk behaviors: Antisocial behavior/delinquency, alcohol use, hard drug use, soft drug use, sexual activity, and school misconduct. In turn, their relationships with adolescents' characteristics--age, gender, ethnicity, involvement in extracurricular activities, religiosity, and view of the future--and contextual characteristics--family support, parent-adolescent communication, peer group characteristics, and school climate--were examined.
Opportunity Road: The Promise and Challenge of America's Forgotten Youth
Description: This report shares both the reality and opportunity of America’s forgotten youth and points the way forward,
ensuring the American Dream is something every young person has the chance to achieve. The future of our
communities, economy and nation depends on our response and we hope it will further rally the nation to action.
Description: The authors of this publication from the Coalition for Juvenile Justice propose that those who work with youth in legal trouble take a page from the Positive Youth Development approach, which views youth as resources to be tapped rather than problems to be solved.
Protecting Adolescents from Risk
Description: This 62-page transcript of a Capitol Hill briefing on findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health features the following presentations: Youth Violence: What Predicts? What Protects? by Michael D. Resnick, Ph.D.; Reducing the Risk: Recent Lessons from Add Health on Adolescent Sexuality by Robert Wm. Blum, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.; The Influence of the Mother by Clea Sucoff McNeely, Dr. P.H.; The Effects of Family Structure and Family Processes on Adolescent Risk Behavior by Kathleen Mullan Harris, Ph.D. The transcript includes both presentation narrative and graphics.
Research FACTs and Findings: Adolescents and the Internet
Author: Louge, Nathalie
Description: Computer use among adolescents has skyrocketed. More than 80% of American youth use the Internet, and nearly half log on daily. In this new, often intimate social environment, adolescents may explore identity formation, sexuality, and self-worth in a virtual world. This fact sheet explores the benefits and risks of Internet use for youth, and offers strategies for safe navigation of the Internet.
Research FACTs and Findings: Risk, Protection, and Resilience
Description: Why is it that some youth are able to survive difficult upbringings that place them at-risk and become productive, responsible adults, while others cannot?
Research Roundup: Why Do Young People Run Away?
Description: Three recent studies shed light on the factors that may make teens more likely to run away or become homeless.
Resilience: What it is and how children and young people can be helped to develop it
Author: Maclean, Kirstie
Description: This briefing paper aims to assist the development of a positive and hopeful resilience perspective and to provide some pointers as to how it might be put into practice.
Selected Risk and Protective Factors Related to Teen Violence in a Rural Nevada Community
Author: Smith, Marilyn (5 more by this author); Geoffrey Leigh; Bill Evans; Marcia Bandera
Description: Presents data were compiled at the request of one rural school district to help identify the strengths and concerns of local youth.
The Cutting Edge: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence
Description: This Research Facts and Findings article and narrated presentation offer a brief overview of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and provide starting points for proactively addressing and responding to NSSI among adolescents.
The Impact of School Breakfast Programs
Author: Dunham, Trudy (31 more by this author)
Description: For a variety of reasons, many children go to school without having eaten breakfast and by late morning hunger can become a problem with lasting effects. This review of research on school breakfast programs discusses the issues and impacts with such programs.
Description: Our society holds many fears, attitudes and beliefs about youth that are myths: myths of declining morals and outcomes. This synthesis of a review on the attitudes of adults toward teens and children debunks many of these myths.
Author: Turner, Susan; Amber Sehgal; Terry Fain
Description: Describes RAND’s validation of the San Diego Risk and Resiliency Checkup (SDRRC), an assessment tool meant to objectively measure the risk and needs of the risk and needs of juvenile probationers in Los Angeles County. A youth’s SDRRC “resiliency score” was found to be significantly related to 12-month recidivism rate.
Views of some protective factors that help reduce negative behavior among Native American youth
Author: Smith, Marilyn (5 more by this author)
Description: A report looking at the results of a survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade youth at the Owyhee school on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. The survey asks teens their opinions about issues facing youth today. Results are presented here in an ecological perspective including community, school, and parent issues.
Youth Facts: Interconnections--Emerging Patterns in Youth Risk Behavior
Author: Erickson, Kimberly (2 more by this author)
Description: Through graphs and data, this seven-page report explains the interconnections between the youth risk behaviors of alcohol, drugs, sex, tobacco and violence. This information explains IYDÂ’s comprehensive risk-avoidance approach to youth risk behavior prevention, based on these proven interconnections.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System: Surveillance Summaries
Description: Comprehensive results and fact sheet from the YRBSS.
Author: Dunham, Trudy (31 more by this author)
Description: We worry about sexting by minors. What it says about their sexual and relationship health. The short and long term effects sexually explicit photographs distributed by cell phone or posted online can have on their lives. While we should continue to worry and do what we can to prevent such behavior, a new national study suggests that the behavior is significantly less prevalent than was previously estimated. This brief reviews the new research findings and recommends actions by parents and youth workers to further prevent this behavior.