Risky Politics? Associations between Adolescent Risk Preference and Political Engagement

• In Event: 3-138 - Beyond Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll: The Adaptive Functions of Adolescent Risk-Taking

Integrative Statement

Heightened risk-taking during adolescence has been traditionally viewed as a public health concern (Steinberg, 2008). However, adolescent risk-taking is also a component of healthy development and can promote adaptive functions (e.g., promoting autonomy, Strang et al., 2013), yet little research has examined how adolescent risk preference may be connected with positive social behaviors. One domain of positive development that may be appealing to youth with heightened risk preference is political engagement. For many youth, political engagement represents a novel, adult-oriented behavior that encompasses potential rewards (e.g., feelings of empowerment), but also entails potential risks (e.g., negative appraisals by others). Additionally, activities that seek to challenge political structures (e.g., activism) may entail greater risks for youth than more standard forms of political engagement (e.g., voting). Further, political engagement in general may be more rewarding for youth with greater political interest. This study used nationally representative samples of high school seniors to examine associations between adolescent risk preference and standard and social movement forms of political engagement and assess whether these associations vary by levels of political interest.

Participants were N = 109,574 high school seniors (50.9% female; 67.1% White) enrolled in consecutive years of the Monitoring the Future study between 1976 and 2014. Participants reported their past political participation and intent to engage in future participation for four standard political activities (i.e., vote, donate to a political campaign, volunteer for a political campaign, write to public officials) and two social movement activities (i.e., boycott, protest). Participants also reported their risk preference (e.g., “I get a real kick out of doing things that are a little dangerous”) and their political interest. Covariates included participant reports of demographic characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, parents’ education, political ideology), organized activity involvement, community service involvement, religious involvement, victimization, delinquency, and substance use.

After controlling for covariates and correcting for multiple tests, probit regression models indicated that greater risk preference was associated with greater past voting, donating to a campaign, writing government officials, boycotting, and protesting (Table 1). Greater risk preference was associated with higher future intentions to boycott and protest, but lower intentions to donate to or volunteer for a campaign. Wald tests indicated that risk preference was more strongly associated with involvement and intent to engage in social movement activities relative to standard political activities (Walds = 32.00 to 3633.78, p’s < .001). In general, the effects of risk preference on political engagement became stronger with higher levels of political interest (Figure 1).

This study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that risk-taking is a fundamental part of adolescent development that has negative as well as positive consequences for functioning. Our findings indicated that youth with greater risk preference were more engaged in political activities, and these effects were particularly strong for social movement forms of involvement and among youth with at least some political interest. Political engagement may offer a unique context that is appealing to youth with a strong risk preference and provides a potential avenue for adaptive risk-taking.

Authors

• Benjamin Oosterhoff, Montana State University
  Presenting Author

• Laura Wray-Lake, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author