Motivation and emotion/Book/2020/Healthy risk-taking

Healthy risk-taking:
What is healthy risk-taking and how can it be fostered?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

1. What is healthy risk-taking and how can it be fostered?
2. How can goal setting theory and research help?
3. Adolescent risk taking and how to enforce healthy risk taking behaviours.
4. Focus questions.

Focus questions: What are the short term and long term benefits of healthy risk-taking? What are the motivations and emotions influencing healthy risk-taking? Who are more likely to engage in healthy risk-taking?

What is healthy risk-taking and how can it be fostered?

Healthy risk-taking behaviour is defined as risks that do not lead to long term consequences, in comparison to unhealthy risk-taking behaviours which will lead to long term consequences. Some examples of healthy risk-taking behaviours would include participating in activities such as rock climbing or theme park rides. Other examples may include trying out for a play or sports team, as well as trying something new with friends, family or individually. Healthy risk-taking behaviours have many benefits including natural consequences and confidence. Participating in healthy risk taking leads to lower chances of participating in unhealthy ones.

When it comes to fostering healthy risk-taking behaviours there is various research supporting the suggestion that the shared responsibility of parent, schools and the community means a greater chance of children participating in healthy risk-taking. This is stated in the following excerpt: "All children might have more opportunities to practice managing the risks and uncertainties of their everyday lives to develop greater confidence and resilience, and the collective well-being of families, schools and communities might also be better served." (Niehues et al., 2016, p. 460).

How can goal setting theory and research help?

The goal setting theory refers to putting together an action plan used to guide and motivate an individual to reach their goals. This theory was developed by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham in 1990. The goal setting theory consists of five steps, {{gr{{ each of their descriptions will be listed and explained below. These five steps are put in place to help the likelihood of a goal being achieved, and tend to provide a great motivational force and influence to healthy risk-taking. The quote "goals motivate people to develop strategies that will enable them to perform at the required goal levels." (Fred, 2011, p. 2), further supports what was said detailed prior about how the goal setting theory helps foster behaviour. The best way to set these goals is through the SMART acronym: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound (Tondello et al, 2018).

Five steps of goal setting theory (SMART)

Figure 1. Example of healthy risk-taking.

1. Specific: The first step of goal setting is to make the goal specific. The goal should directly describe what needs to be done, in other words, it should be clear and specific.
2. Measurable: Judging by how clear and specific the goal is, it should then be easy to measure the goal. Including how far along in the goal one it, as well as being able to measure when the individual has reached the goal.
3. Attainable: A goal must be attainable, meaning that it must be a realistic goal that the individual can achieve through their planning.
4. Realistic: Similar to a goal being attainable, it must be realistic. Meaning that it is something the individual can realistically achieve.
5. Time bound: A time bound may also be helpful when planning out a goal. Having times set in for when to work on or times when parts of the goal should be done by help keep track of the goal.

(Tondello et al, 2018).

Influences to healthy risk-taking

1. Who are more likely to enforce healthy risk-taking?

Children that were more likely to enforce healthy risk-taking behaviours were those whos parents put more responsibility and trust in others, including their children, to foster these healthy risk-taking behaviours. "when adults put more faith in others to share responsibility for building and sustaining the happiness and well-being of their own children, they might feel greater confidence in themselves and take on more responsibility for supporting all children to pursue occupations that encourage happiness and well-being through age-appropriate risk taking" (Niehues et al., 2016, p. 460). This statement supports this idea that putting trust in others such as school, the community and their children will lead to good outcomes with healthy risk-taking behaviours.

2. Examples of healthy risk-taking behaviours

An example of how a healthy risk-taking behaviour can be enforced through the goal setting theory can be seen through the example of trying out for a sports team. Trying out for a sports team is a healthy risk-taking behaviour. Looking at this behaviour through the goal setting theory looks like this, the goal is to try out for a sports team. This goal needs to be specific so which sport, which sports team, what the requirements are for the team, when the try outs are, and any other relevant details that will help attain that goal. The next part of the goal setting theory is to be able to measure the goal, a way of measuring this goal would be to make sure the individual makes it to the try outs of the sport team, as well as measuring through being put on the team. Next is attainable and realistic, this can include factors such as does the person reach the requirements for trying out for the team and does the person have the time to put effort into this goal. Lastly, is time bound. As mentioned before having the try out day and time in mind is a good way to keep track of the time that is going into this goal.

Adolescent risk taking and how to enforce healthy risk taking behaviours

What are the short term and long term benefits of healthy risk-taking?

Healthy risk-taking behaviour can have both short term and long term benefits from childhood onwards. "risky play also helps children learn risk perception and management skills, which are important in developing understanding of how to navigate risks and avoid injuries" (Mariana, 2015, p. 344) this statement shows how healthy risk-taking behaviours that begin in childhood can become useful skills that can be used later on in one's life. It is important for children and adults to understand the consequences of their risks and how to use management skills, which then further lead to understand the possible negative outcomes. As well as these benefits, the strategies that are used to foster healthy risk-taking behaviours can be useful skills in both the short term and long term.

What are the motivations and emotions influencing healthy risk-taking?

When it comes to the motivations and emotions that influence healthy risk-taking behaviours, an individual's sensation seeking may influence their motivations and emotions for participating in healthy risk-taking behaviours. As well as each individual's personal motivations and emotions, their physiological factors may also influence their likelihood to participate in healthy risk-taking behaviours. "The level of sensation seeking in a given individual is linked to his/her personality, but also to physiological components" (Julien, et al., 2011), this statement supports this idea.

Who are more likely to engage in unhealthy risk-taking?

When it comes to unhealthy risk-taking behaviours, such as underage drinking, smoking, risky sexual activity and so on, it seems that people are are the most at risk of participating in these behaviours are those who are exposed to peer pressure. People are more likely to participate in risky behaviour in the presence of their peers (Jorien, et al., 2016), this supports the idea that peer pressure highly influences risky behaviours, specifically when the peers are present. Others that are more likely to participate in these unhealthy behaviours are those who do not pay attention to details and those who have trouble with planning, this is because they are more easily distracted by their peers, "Our results suggest that adolescents who are high on non-planning impulsivity (or low attention to details and future planning) may be more prone to be distracted by peers into taking risks." (Eleonora, et al., 2013).

Conclusion

In conclusion, healthy risk-taking behaviours have both short term and long term benefits. These types of behaviours can replace unhealthy risk-taking behaviours because they come with natural and usually unharmful consequences. Some of the best influences to foster healthy risk-taking behaviours is through parents being trustful towards their children and allowing schools an the community to also hold responsibly for fostering these behaviours. Another main way to foster healthy risk-taking behaviours is through the goal setting theory. Being able to plan goals that are attainable is the best way to enforce healthy risk-taking. Lastly, understand what influences may affect someone's decisions to participate in unhealthy risk-taking behaviours are key to making changes to enforce healthy risk taking.

See also

• Emotion (Wikiversity)
• Executive functions (Wikipedia)
• Goal setting (Wikipedia)
• motivation (Wikiversity)
• Peer group (Wikipedia)
• Planning (Wikipedia)

References

Eleonora, C., Grace, K., Thomas, L., Elizabeth, K. R., Ty, S., C.W. L., Suchitra. K. S. (2013). A preliminary experimental investigation of peer influence on risk-taking among adolescent smokers and non-smokers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 129(1-2), 163-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.09.020

Fred, C. L. (2011). Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administion 15(1), 1-6. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b0b8f55365f02045e1ecaa5/t/5b14d215758d46f9851858d1/1528091160453/Lunenburg%2C+Fred+C.+Goal-Setting+Theoryof+Motivation+IJMBA+V15+N1+2011.pdf

Jorien, V. H., Eveline, A. C., Linda, V. L. (2016). Hanging Out With the Right Crowd: Peer Influence on Risk-Taking Behavior in Adolescence. Journal of research on adolescence, 27(1), 189-200. DOI: 10.1111/jora.12265

Julien, C., Francioise, P., Patricia, D. (2011). Young drivers' sensation seeking, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control and their roles in predicting speeding intention: How risk-taking motivations evolve with gender and driving experience. Safety Science 49(3), 424-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.10.007

Mariana, B., Sara, B., Ian, P., Ellen, B. H. S., Susan, H., Heather, T., Scott, B., Louise, L., Pamela, F., David, J. B. (2015). Can child injury prevention include healthy risk promotion? Injury prevention 21(5), 344-347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ injuryprev-2014-041241

Niehues, A.A., Bundy, A., Broom, A., & Tranter, P (2016) Reframing healthy risk taking: Parents’ dilemmas and strategies to promote children’s well-being, Journal of Occupational Science, 23(4), 449-463, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2016.1209424

Tondello, G.F., Premsukh, H., & Nacke, L.E. (2018). A Theory of Gamification Principles Through Goal-Setting Theory, Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).

External links

• Kids Help Line (Website)
• Locke's Goal Setting Theory of Motivation (YouTube, 2018)
• How risk-taking changes a teenager's brain (TedTalk, 2019)