Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Voices on risk-taking : Young women and men in an existential and social world 
University West, Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, Division of Psychology and Organisation Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2196-5971
University West, Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, Division of Psychology and Organisation Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3328-6538
University West, Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, Division of Psychology and Organisation Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4151-7976
2010 (English)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

 

The present study was influenced by existential - and gender aspects on young people's everyday lives with the aim to shed light on the complexity of the phenomenon of risk-taking, the meaning and purpose of adolescent risk-taking in a traditional sense (e.g. smoking and drug using) and in noisy environments (e.g. discotheques and rock concerts). The intention was to identify possible new ways of understanding young people's experiences and apprehensions about different risk behaviours by the use of qualitative method; The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Sixteen adolescents (8 men/8 women, aged 15-19) were interviewed, 4 in separate interviews and 12 in focus groups. The analysis revealed two dimensions: "Social identity" and "Existential identity" and six superordinate themes of the phenomena of risk-taking. The two dimensions and the six super-ordinate themes were equal for women and men, while the sub-themes were found to be gender-related. The interviewees' responses revealed social (gender) - and existential considerations which affected the participants in many areas of their daily lives. The study implies that one of the challenges for the preventive strategies is to be able to talk about risk-taking in terms of both threat and development, and not as a case of either or. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2010. , p. 33
Series
Research reports / University West, ISSN 1653-459X ; 2010:03
Keywords [en]
Risk-taking, adolescents, social identity, existential identity
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
SOCIAL SCIENCE, Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-2696OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-2696DiVA, id: diva2:353840
Available from: 2010-09-29 Created: 2010-09-29 Last updated: 2019-03-12Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Music and risk in an existential and gendered world
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Music and risk in an existential and gendered world
2011 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Adolescents in Western society often expose themselves to high levels of sound at gyms, rock concerts, discotheques etc. These behaviours are as threatening to young people’s health as more traditional risk behaviours. Testing boundaries and risk taking are fundamental aspects of young people’s lives and the processes of developing their identities. There is, however, a need to balance reasonable risk taking and risks that can damage health. The aim of Study I was to analyze the relationship between self-exposure to noise, risk behaviours and risk judgements among 310 Swedish adolescents aged 15-20 (167 men/143 women). The adolescents’ behaviour in different traditional risk situations correlated with behaviour in noisy environments, and judgements about traditional risks correlated with judgement regarding noise exposure. Another finding was that young women judge risk situations as generally more dangerous than young men, although they behave in the same way as the men. We suggest that this difference is a social and culture based phenomenon which underlines the importance of adopting a gender perspective in the analysis of risk factors. Adolescents reporting permanent tinnitus judged loud music as more risky than adolescents with no symptoms and they did not listen to loud music as often as those with occasional tinnitus. The aims of study II were to illuminate  the complexity of risk behaviour, the meaning and purpose of adolescent risk-taking in both a traditional sense (e.g. smoking and drug use) and in noisy environments (e.g. discotheques and rock concerts), in relation to norms and gender roles in contemporary society. In total, 16 adolescents (8 men/8 women, aged 15-19) were interviewed individually and in focus groups. The interviewees’ responses revealed social reproduction of gender and class. Main themes of the phenomena for both genders emerged: Social identity and Existential identity of risk taking. The descriptive sub themes, however, which together formed the general structure, were rather diverse for men and women. The incorporation of social and existential theories on gender as basic factors in the analysis of attitudes towards risk-taking behaviours is considered to be of utmost importance. Likewise, research on hearing prevention for young people needs to acknowledge and make use of theories on risk behaviour and similarly, the theories on risk behaviour should acknowledge noise as a risk factor.

             Study III aims to increase the knowledge about young women’s and men’s risk judgement and behaviour by investigating patterns in adolescent risk activities among 310 adolescents aged 15-20 (143 women; 167 men). The Australian instrument ARQ, developed by Gullone et al, was used with additional questions on hearing risks [1] and a factor analysis was conducted. The main results showed that the factor structure in the judgement and behaviour scale for Swedish adolescents was rather different from the factor structure in the Australian sample. The factor structure was not similar to the Australian sample split on gender and there were differences in factor structures between genders among Swedish adolescents. The results are discussed from a gender and existential perspective on risk taking, and it is emphasized that research on risk behaviour needs to reconceptualize stereotypical ideas about gender and the existential period in adolescence. The aim of Study IV was to investigate possible gender differences regarding psychometric scales measuring risk perception in noisy situations, attitudes towards loud music, perceived susceptibility to noise, and individual norms and ideals related to activities where loud music is played. In addition, the purpose was to analyze whether these variables are associated with protective behaviour, e.g. the use of hearing protection. A questionnaire was administered to a Swedish sample including 543 adolescents aged 16 to 20. The result revealed significant gender differences for all the psychometric scales. Furthermore, all psychometric measures were associated with hearing protection use in musical settings. Contrary to previous studies, gender did not solely contribute to any explanation of protective behaviour in the analysis. One conclusion is that although gender does not contribute solely to the explanation of protective behaviour, gender may affect psychological variables such as risk perception, attitudes and perceived susceptibility and these variables may in turn be valuable for decision-making and protective behaviour in noisy situations. Although women tend to be more ’careful’ psychologically, they nevertheless tend to behave in the same way as men regarding actual noise-related risk-taking.

 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Göteborg: Geson Hylte Tryck AB, 2011
Keywords
Adolescents, Noise, Music, Risk taking behaviour, Gender, Existential theory, Hearing, Youth
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
Research subject
SOCIAL SCIENCE, Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-4153 (URN)978-91-628-8304-1 (ISBN)
Public defence
2011-05-27, Albertsalen, Högskolan Väst, Trollhättan, 09:16 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2012-03-02 Created: 2012-02-21 Last updated: 2019-11-20Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(172 kB)787 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 172 kBChecksum SHA-512
55fa6bf200b44febf7e07b6775a2f15f01ee29acba60bd6708d0077603f4641c4204cae142366b1dd15ed892944e9660094e4c80b5fbe18b5dec1781242734bc
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Authority records

Bohlin, MargaretaSorbring, Emma

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Bohlin, MargaretaSorbring, EmmaErlandssson, Soly
By organisation
Division of Psychology and Organisation Studies
Psychology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 787 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 854 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf