Journal of Adolescence 1997, 20, 369379

An examination of adolescent risk-taking using a story completion task

SUSAN M. MOORE, ELEONORA GULLONE AND MARION KOSTANSKI
The aim of the study was to assess whether risk-taking as described in complete the story tasks written by adolescents could be predicted by the perceived consequences of the behaviours portrayed in the stories. The study involved analysis of story themes in terms of portrayal of participation in risky behaviour and the nature of story outcomes. Links between story elements were assessed and comparisons made of these projectively-based findings with previous self-report research. Participants were 570 adolescents aged 12 to 17 from secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Responses to four complete the story stimuli were coded according to whether story protagonists participated in the hypothetical risk posed, and in terms of the behavioural outcomes presented. Adolescents were more likely to write stories accepting negative than positive risks, and to expect short-term rather than long-term consequences. Perceived short-term consequences of risk-taking behaviour were predictive of risk participation, however long-term consequences were not. The study provided data about adolescent risk-taking which mirrored and extended the findings of self-report studies.
1997 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

Introduction
Risk-taking among adolescents and youth is an important topic for researchers, given that young peoples health is most severely jeopardised by their own risky behaviours. Irwin (1993) presents American data to show that the mortality rate increases by 214% from early (10 to 14 years) to late (15 to 19 years) adolescence, with intentional and unintentional injuries from behaviours such as dangerous driving and suicide attempts accounting for this increase. Millstein and Litt note that [i]n contrast to mortality among children and adults, adolescent mortality primarily arises not from disease but from preventable social, environmental, and behavioural factors. Behavioural factors also rank high among causes of morbidity in adolescents (in Feldman and Elliott, 1990, p. 433). Much adolescent risk-taking research considers one type of risk only, such as substance abuse or sexual risk, however it is possible that risk-taking in general, including both minor and major risks, has common elements. For example, Moore and Gullone (1996) asked 570 Australian adolescents to name up to four behaviours which they saw as both risky and common to young people their age. The sample mentioned over 2000 behaviours which were classified into about 30 behavioural groupings by independent raters. Those categories of risk behaviour mentioned by 10% or more of the sample were smoking, drinking alcohol, dangerous driving, taking drugs, criminal behaviour, sporting risks, antisocial behaviour, minor rebellion, school-related risks and sexual activity. Across these 10 risk types there
Reprint requests and correspondence should be addressed to Prof. S. Moore, Department of Psychology, Victoria University of Technology, PO Box 14428 MMC, Melbourne, Victoria 8001, Australia. 0140-1971/97/040369+11/$2500/0/ad970093 1997 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

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was a consistent pattern of relationships between risk participation and outcome judgement, with perceived pleasantness and likelihood of positive outcomes, and unpleasantness of negative outcomes, strongly associated with behaviour. This was the case whether the risk assessed was considered highly dangerous (high possibility of serious negative outcome) or only mildly risky (potential negative outcome not particularly noxious). Smith and Rosenthal (1995), also studying Australian adolescents, found common patterns in beliefs about 10 different risk activities, including drug and alcohol use, unprotected sexual intercourse, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Second order factor analysis established that across the risks studied, adolescents appeared to be making judgements about inherent danger, the trade-off between positive and negative outcomes of engaging in the risk, and perceived level of control over the outcome. Both these studies suggest that it is of value to study the phenomenon of risk-taking in general, as well as focussing on specific risks, and that the principles underlying decisions about weak risks (such as the risk of embarrassment) may have something in common with the principles underlying strong risks, such as the risk of death or disablement. It is apparent that common views of what constitutes risk involve behaviours for which there is some balance between potentially positive and potentially negative outcomes. If the positives strongly outweigh the negatives, then the behaviour is not usually considered risky except by the most cautious of people. An example would be going to workthere is potential for accidents and the like, but these are considered unlikely, so the behaviour is considered commonplace rather than risky. At the opposite extreme are behaviours where the negative outcomes by far outweigh any positives, so that the behaviour is more readily described as suicidal, self destructive, or extremely foolhardy. An example would be playing Russian Roulette. For these behaviours, the word risk is an understatement of the nature of the activity. Our definition of risk, therefore, is behaviour for which the outcome is uncertain and which involves potential negative consequences (or loss) but balanced in some way by perceived positive consequences (gain). This definition extends those of Yates (1992) and Beyth-Marom et al. (1993) who concentrate on the loss side of the equation only. Our definition enables the study of behaviours with a range of likely potential outcomes, from positive to negative, or mild to severe, under the title of risk behaviour. The usefulness of this conceptualisation will be reflected in the extent to which this and other studies find elements in common in the functioning of different types of risk. What predicts risk behaviours in adolescence? Models of the decision-making process have been applied to predict adolescent risk-taking, but with only moderate success. For example, Ajzen and Fishbeins (1980) Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) postulates relationships between engaging in a behaviour and attitudes toward it, knowledge of its likely outcomes, and intentions with respect to carrying out the behaviour in question. While this model works relatively well in predicting adult behaviours that are premeditated and rationally governed (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Ajzen and Madden, 1986), it is less successful in explaining actions in which contextual and emotional factors have a major role. In these cases, intentions are often thwarted or discarded. An example in the sexual domain is the limited relationship between intention to use a condom and actual use, with situational factors such as sexual arousal and alcohol use frequently interfering with young peoples good intentions to engage in safe sex (Boldero et al., 1992). Because of their lack of experience in dealing with contingencies, such situational factors may be more likely to sway adolescents than adults. Another rational decision-making paradigm, the Health Belief Model (HBM; Janz and

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Becker, 1984), has also been applied to adolescent risk-taking in the areas of sexual risk (Rosenthal et al., 1992), and dieting and exercising behaviour (OConnell et al., 1985) among others, with only limited success. Most supportive research with both the TRA and the HBM appears to have been conducted with adult or child samples rather than adolescents per se, and describes the prediction of compliance to particular health routines, for example, having regular dental check-ups (Weisenberg et al., 1980) or protective behaviours such as taking the contraceptive pill to avoid pregnancy (Jaccard and Davidson, 1972). Fewer studies have examined the success of these models in explaining the avoidance of unhealthy or otherwise risky behaviours, such as smoking or binge drinking. Effect size, that is, the power of the model to accurately predict the behaviour in question, has not been reported in many of the studies reviewed (Adler et al., 1992). Similarly, problem behaviour models of adolescent risk-taking, while more successful, only account for a limited proportion of the variance of risk behaviour (Lavery et al., 1993). The problem behaviour perspective views adolescent risk-taking as behaviour that deviates from social norms and incites censure from the adult community. In this view, rebellious adolescents who engage in one type of risk are more likely to engage in others. Underlying factors may include deviant social circumstances or personality disorders. Such a perspective does not adequately account for the widespread occurrence of some risk-taking behaviours among normal as opposed to deviant adolescents (for example smoking, dieting), and in particular does not account for positive risk-taking. By this we mean risky behaviour that has the likelihood of adaptive, healthy outcomes, but involves potential cost, such as social costs like embarrassment or failure. Examples could be trying new sports, making social overtures, engaging in creative pursuits or behaviours requiring new levels of independence. Such behaviours are important for adolescent development. The relationship of these behaviours to those we normally consider as adolescent risk, that is, self-destructive and potentially health compromising behaviours such as dangerous driving and unprotected sex, is quite unclear. Chassin et al. (1989) propose that young people who engage in negative forms of risk-taking may also be more likely to engage in, or at least have the potential for, more positive, constructive forms of teenage unconventionality, reflecting independence and creativity. Underlying personality traits such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking may provide the link between adaptive and maladaptive forms of risk. Factors relating to these positive vs. negative types of risk, and processes underlying them are, however, not well understood. Finally, a third model put forward to account for adolescent risk is that of perceived invulnerability or adolescent egocentrism (Moore and Rosenthal, 1991; Lavery et al., 1993). Elkind (1967) used the term personal fable to describe what he argues is the widespread perception among adolescents that they are special, unique, and invulnerable to the risks normally associated with reckless behaviours. In Lavery et al.s (1993) study, however, only a trivial amount of the variance of risk involvement was accounted for by measures of adolescent egocentrism. In addition, Moore and Rosenthals (1991) study of sexual risk showed that while some young risk-takers felt invulnerable, just as many recognised the risks they were taking but continued on this course regardless. The idea that it cant happen to me, while a popular explanation of adolescent risk-taking, has limited research support. So there is still much to be explained about the phenomenon of normal adolescent risky and reckless behaviour. One problem with studies of these phenomena to date is that measures of risk are generally of the self-report variety. We suggest that such studies often

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produce stereotypic response patternsyoung people say what they believe they are supposed to say. For example, many, if not most, adolescents believe they will resist peer pressure and not engage in health compromising risks. But in real life they often do not resist such pressures. They say they do not intend to drink, smoke and have unsafe sex, but they do it anyway. As Lavery et al. point out The procedure of asking young people to reveal the activities in which they have engaged and their perceptions about those behaviours may really reflect only their style of rationalisation, as opposed to their actual decision-making process. That is, reflection after the fact is likely to be very different from the thoughts and emotions which interplay as decision-making occurs (i.e. in real-time). Therefore, in future studies investigators may need to devise procedures that are less tied to retrospective reports and perceptions (Lavery et al., 1993, p. 292). The challenge is to break through the social desirability barrier of self-report research so that we can solve some of the theoretical and practical conundrums posed by adolescent risk research. How can we extend the boundaries of adolescent risk research to find out more about how young people think about risk and risk-taking situations, and what factors are important influences in whether they engage or do not engage in risky behaviour? A review article in the American Psychologist special issue on adolescent research suggests that we should incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in studies of adolescence (Zaslow and Takanishi, 1993). The different types of techniques can serve to both enrich and cross-validate each other. In the current study, risk-taking is explored through the use of projective (complete the story) techniques, which enable adolescents to project themselves into a risky situation and respond to it in fantasy. These techniques can be construed as qualitative techniques in the same way as interviews, in that response categories are not provided for the research participants. Interviews were not used in this study because, as with self-report techniques, these too can often be marked by high stereotypy of responses. Adolescents are not always particularly self-reflective, and they may censor what is revealed to adults. Projective materials enable young people to step outside of their own defences, to an extent. Further, using a more qualitative approach gives adolescents the chance to indicate what they perceive as salient about risky situations, not what we as researchers indicate as salient. Validity criticisms associated with projective techniques relate to whether what is produced in fantasy will relate to respondents actual behaviour. Kitzinger and Powell (1995) argue, however, that such criticisms need not be relevant to the use of projective techniques, depending on how they are used. They point out that as well as using these techniques for their original purpose of uncovering some essential truths about individuals personalities or psychological dynamics, story completion tasks can also be interpreted as reflecting contemporary discourses upon which subjects draw in making sense of their experience. In interpreting these qualitative materials through this social constructivist framework, issues of validitywhether the subject is saying something real about himself or herselfbecome less relevant. What is being uncovered are examples of the narratives and/or discourses in the social world, in this case the narratives about risk-taking, which characterise the social world of adolescents. Whether it be from an essentialist or social constructivist perspective, we argue that in the area of adolescent risk it is worthwhile to use a range of methodologies of study, and to compare results across methodologies. Projective measures enable a different focus on the factors associated with adolescent risk in that they assess fantasized responses to risk. These provide information about how young people think about risk-taking, and their reflection of

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the social discourses within this domain. Such data is worthwhile regardless of its association with behaviour. Other advantages include removal of the usual social props for responding. Projective techniques free respondents to some extent from social desirability constraints, and their disguised purpose reduces the tendency toward stereotypy. In this study we sought to describe and analyse themes emanating from projective material about risk-taking situations, and compare findings about these themes with findings from self-report research discussed previously (Moore and Gullone, 1996). This self-report study showed that adolescent risk-taking could be predicted by the perceived costs and benefits of risk, especially the benefits. In a similar view, the present study assesses whether risk-taking as described in semi-structured stories written by adolescents can be predicted by the perceived consequences of behaviour. Confirmation of the patterns of relationships found in the earlier study would be significantly strengthened if replicated using this different methodology.

Method
Sample
Participants in this study were 570 school-based adolescents (291 males, 279 females) aged 12 to 17, from six co-educational State secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Schools were selected with a view to obtaining a representative sample with regard to socioeconomic status, hence schools from both working and middle class areas were included. Students whose parents gave permission volunteered to participate in the study after reading an explanatory statement about the nature of the research. This resulted in a response rate of approximately 85%, with most non-respondents being those who forgot to return their consent form rather than direct refusals to participate. Five year levels were tested (Years 711), the numbers in each year level ranging from 101 (Year 8) to 129 (Year 7). There were approximately equal numbers of males and females sampled across each year level.

Measures
The projective measure used consisted of four complete the story stimuli, two involving positive and two involving negative risk situations. For one of each of the positive and negative risk situations the protagonist was a girl, and for the other the protagonist was a boy.

The positive risks. These depicted situations in which positive consequences would be adaptive and healthy, but there was potential for negative consequences, such as embarrassment, failure, social ostracism, etc. Story 1 was about a friendship situation, and Story 2 about a school classroom situation. The stories posed were:
Tracey thought the new girl at school looked like shed be an interesting person. She wondered about inviting her over to join their group at lunchtime. Just as Tracey was about to make up her mind about what to do, her best friend, Linda came over and whispered, That new girl looks a real dag, dosent she? What happens? Jason really liked Science and thought his teacher was great. He like to participate in class, and answer the teachers questions when he could. One day the teacher was asking if anyone knew why rain fell down instead of up, and Jason put up his hand to answer. Then he heard Nicole

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(the most popular girl in class) whisper VERY loudly, Trust dear little Jason to put his hand up. What happens?

The negative risks. These were situations in which negative consequences would be maladaptive and unhealthy, and the potential for positive consequences was apparently limited to short-term gains. Story 3 involved a binge drinking scenario, and Story 4 concerned the health risk of dieting. The stories were:
Trevor was 16 and enjoyed having a beer with his mates. He didnt drink during the week because of school, but on Saturday nights he often went to the pub. One Saturday, after a really heavy week at school, Trevor and his friends decide to have a drinking competition. What happens? Everyone told Melissa she wasnt fat but she hated her body, especially the thighs! She decided to go on a strict diet and exercise more. Her mother said it was OK to do the exercise, but she didnt need to diet at her age. What happens?

Due to the large amount of time and effort required to code all subjects projective stories (over 2000), and the likelihood of diminishing returns with respect to generalisability once the sample reached a certain size, a stratified (according to sex and year level) random sample of 200 participant protocols was selected for analysis. Taking into account missing data, this sample yielded 708 stories, 178 of Stories 1 and 3, 177 Story 2, and 175 Story 4.

Procedure
The risk stories described above were administered to all respondents in their normal classroom groups at school. The instructions were read aloud to the students who were required to independently complete the questionnaire. It was emphasised to respondents that there were no right or wrong answers, and that they should work independently. The stories took approximately 20 minutes to complete, and were completed anonymously to increase validity of responses.

Analysis
A randomly selected 30% (n=60) of the 200 stories were read by both investigators. On the basis of these stories it was determined that the most common story format involved comment about whether or not the risk/challenge posed in the story was taken up or accepted. Many stories also included a comment about the outcomes of participating or not participating in the risky behaviour. Whether outcomes were short- or long-term, positive or negative, was noted as differentiating participants stories. On the basis of these common themes, two research assistants with graduate degrees in psychology, unaware of the purpose of the research except that it was about risk-taking in general, coded responses. Coding occurred according to whether the story protagonists accepted or rejected the risk posed, and whether the outcomes of the risk behaviour or risk avoidance were short- or long-term, positive (favourable), negative (unfavourable), neutral, or non-stated. Interrater agreement ranged from 93% for Story 4 through to 88% for Story 2. Coders discussed coding procedures again with the researchers, who answered questions and emphasised definitions. Items on which there was disagreement were then recoded by the coders until agreement was reached.

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Results
Story outcomes
Examples of stories illustrating a range of outcomes are described below.

Accept the risk/consequences positive. Tracey doesnt worry about Linda. She goes and talks to the new girl. They talk and Linda finds out she is not a dag. They all become friends. Accept the risk/consequences negative. Tracey says, No, I think she looks really nice. I might invite her to our group at lunchtime. Linda replies, Well you can go with her. We dont like you any more now that you like that dag. Reject the risk/consequences negative. Tracey looked at the new girl and said to Linda, Yeah, I reckon, even though she disagreed. She hated the way she could never argue with Linda, but she really wanted to be part of the cool group. As Tracey and Linda sat there talking, the new girl walked over and asked if she could sit with them. No, said Linda, Rack off. And unfortunately for Tracey, because she didnt have the guts to speak up for herself she missed out on the best friend of her life. Reject the risk/consequences positive. Jason took his hand down quickly, afraid of what Nicole had said. As soon as he had done this the teacher suddenly pointed the question to Nicole who sat there bewildered. I dont know miss. Nicole said embarrassed. Well why not? As the whole class turned to the most popular girl in school we watched her squirm.
Table 1 shows the number of subjects (percent in brackets) who accepted, rejected, or presented uncertain outcomes for each story risk. It is interesting to note that the two negative risks were accepted by the majority of adolescents in their story completions. For the positive risk stories, there was, however, a greater range of responses, with a more even spread of acceptance, rejection, and non-committal.

Table 1 Acceptance and rejection of risk in stories

Accept risk n(%) Positive risks Story 1: Tracey (friends) Story 2: Jason (school) Negative risks Story 3: Trevor (drinking) Story 4: Melissa (dieting) 78 (438) 60 (339) 170 (955) 131 (749) Reject risk n(%) 61 (343) 55 (311) 7 (04) 34 (194) Unclear/uncertain n(%) 39 (219) 62 (350) 1 (01) 10 (57)

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Data on story consequences are presented in Table 2, with some examples below. As described previously, consequences could be short-term or long-term, as well as positive, negative, neutral or unstated.

Negative short-term outcome, positive long-term. Melissa goes against her mothers will and diets. After a while she becomes anorexic and has to go to hospital. She ends up learning her lesson. All the other kids reckon hes a square and the teachers pet. Jason puts up with it. Ten years later he becomes a doctor Negative short- and long-term outcome. Jason is quite hurt because of a girl calling aloud trust that Jason boy to put his hand up. This has hurt his feeling about science. Positive short- and long-term outcome. Melissa listens to her mother and only does the exercises. Four months later she was satisfied with her body.
Positive short-term consequences were not particularly common, accounting for around 10 to 15% for three of the four stories. The drinking story (Story 3), however, produced very few short-term positive consequences. Short-term negative consequences were much higher for the negative risks, with the positive risk stories more likely to elicit neutral or no short-term consequences. Long-term story outcomes were far fewer than corresponding short-term outcomes. Negative long-term consequences were more common than positive ones for Story 3, but there were few differences for the other stories.

Predictors of risk acceptance

Results of four regression analyses in which risk acceptance/rejection was the dependent variable, and story consequences (short- and long-term positive and negative outcomes),

Table 2 Number (percentage) of short- and long-term outcomes of projective stories

Outcomes Short-term Positive (+) Negative () Neutral or none Both + and Total Long-term Positive (+) Negative () Neutral or none Both + and Total Story 1 (friends) 28 (157) 30 (169) 103 (579) 17 (96) 178 3 (17) 3 (17) 171 (961) 1 (05) 178 Story 2 (school) 19 (107) 62 (350) 86 (486) 10 (56) 177 4 (23) 9 (51) 164 (926) 0 (00) 177 Story 3 (drinking) 7 (39) 139 (781) 15 (84) 17 (96) 178 11 (62) 32 (180) 130 (730) 5 (28) 178 Story 4 (dieting) 23 (131) 110 (629) 35 (200) 7 (40) 175 32 (183) 37 (211) 104 (594) 2 (11) 175

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age, and sex were the independent variables, are presented in Table 3. The aim of these regressions was to test, for each story, the associations between risk acceptance and perceived outcome. Table 3 shows that risk acceptance was associated most strongly with short-term, as opposed to long-term outcomes. For the positive risk stories (1 and 2), taking up the risk was associated with short-term positive consequences. Short-term negative consequences were significantly associated with rejection of the positive risks posed in these stories. For the negative risk stories (3 and 4), short-term negative outcomes were associated with risk acceptance, but positive outcomes were unrelated to risk rejection. Long-term consequences were not associated with risk acceptance/rejection for any of the four stories.

Discussion
In the projective story completions, adolescents nearly always accepted the negative risks presented to them. This was much less the case with the positive risks, for which about onethird wrote stories in which the challenge posed by the positive risk was not accepted. Are challenges more difficult for young people to face than negative risks? Such a finding leads us to speculate about the social modelling of risk-taking, and ask the question whether we provide more models to young people for the uptake of reckless behaviours than for negotiating lifes risky challenges. Another possibility is that the projective techniques enable young people to provide story endings that they would like to play out in real life but are constrained from doing so by common sense, fear of consequences, and the like. Thus the stories themselves provide a means of safely experimenting with risky behaviour, and as such could provide useful discussion starters and intervention tools in health and citizenship classes for adolescents. A second important aspect of the descriptive analysis of the story themes was that shortterm outcomes were far more common than long-term. While many stories described aversive outcomes for negative risks, and some (although fewer) described pleasant outcomes for positive risk-taking, these consequences were in the main immediate and short acting. Delayed or longer lasting consequences were far less often described. If young people have few models or scripts for avoiding negative risk, and their decision-making Table 3 Predictors of risk acceptance: beta weights
Predictor Age Sex Short-term positive outcome Short-term negative outcome Long-term positive outcome Long-term negative outcome F R2 p **P<0.01. Story 1 (friends) 006 009 039** 020** 007 008 677 0192 <0001 Story 2 (school) 006 018 023** 034** 003 007 883 0238 <0001 Story 3 (drinking) 011 006 009 038** 003 003 639 0183 <0001 Story 4 (dieting) 004 007 017 045** 002 002 1201 0300 <0001

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about whether or not to engage in self-destructive risk is not tempered by thoughts of consequences over and above the short-term and non permanent, then the motives and skills for not engaging are weak. Similarly, if models and scripts for positive risk-taking are few and long-term positive consequences are not important in driving decision-making, then accepting the challenge of such risks is less likely. The regression analysis showing the relationships between risk acceptance and perceived risk consequences sheds more light on this issue. In fact, positive and negative consequences of risk behaviour did relate to risk acceptance in projective stories by teenagers just as they did in a previous self-report study (Moore and Gullone, 1996). The current study, however, expanded the picture by considering both positive and negative risks, and short- and long-term consequences. In this study perceived positive consequences were predictive of engaging in positive risks, but not of avoiding negative risks. Acceptance of negative risk was associated with short-term negative consequences as was rejection of positive risk, but long-term outcomes were not predictive of risk acceptance or rejection. It seems therefore, that the motivation to avoid negative risks is small, especially for those who underestimate riskiness. For positive risks, the influence of missing out on something good if you reject the risk is recognized, as are the positive outcomes possible from accepting the challenge. But once again long-term consequences are not incorporated into the risk equation. That short-term consequences are more powerful predictors than long-term consequences may relate to developmental stage in that these young people do not have clear enough ideas about the future and its advantages to forsake comfort or excitement in the present. Such a speculation needs to be investigated further. We do not know, for example, whether this planning ahead factor is also weak among adults. In summary, what seems to be happening in these stories is that negative outcomes are being experienced by protagonists, but they do not have a lasting negative effect. Everything turns out right in the end. The consequences are short lived and long-term outcomes are not considered. Or, for some stories, short-term unpleasant consequences are overridden by long-term positive ones. The person learns their lesson, and vows never to excessively diet or drink again. This is different from (but also similar to) adolescent invulnerability notions put forward by Elkind (1967) in which it is suggested that young people deny the possibility that the negative outcomes of risk-taking could affect them personally. In the present study, what we have is evidence for the acceptance of negative outcomes of risky behaviour, but a discounting of the power of these outcomes to have a lasting effecteither there are no long-term consequences (in the majority of cases), or quite often the long-term consequences have things turn out right in the end. In terms of models of adolescent risk-taking, this study provides limited evidence for both the rational decision-making and the invulnerability models. The sense of invulnerability proposed as characteristic of adolescents is reflected in the concentration on short-term consequences in the story endings. The regression analyses provide evidence of rational decision-making processes occurring in whether a risk or challenge is accepted or rejected, in that acceptance of positive risks was more likely to be perceived as associated with positive outcomes, and acceptance of negative risk with negative outcomes. By using projective measures of adolescent risk-taking we have indicated that young peoples fantasies about risk behaviour follow similar patterns to their actual behaviour. The stories have enabled us to extend current models of risk-taking by focusing on the separation of, and differences between, adolescents perceived long-term and short-term outcomes of risk.

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Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the Australian Rotary Health Foundation who funded this research, and to Ms Dianne Vella-Broderick and Ms Candice Boyd who were research assistants for the project.

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