ABSTRACT
Risky behaviour by young people elicits a greater response when that threat is immediate and personal, not only to young people, but others in society. Teenagers in the twenty-first century exhibit the same behaviours with probably the same frequency, but the world has changed. There are fewer constraints on teenager's decisions in Western societies but there are also greater dangers, particularly HIV/AIDS, and there is more information available on dangers to health. Demographically, one of the riskiest decisions a young person can take is to start smoking. Tobacco smoking is a high-risk habit which kills about half of those who regularly practice it. Most research tends to be in European-based cultures and this strongly suggests that smoking initiation is socially mediated by both parents and peers. Young drivers have a higher risk of involvement in road accidents and injury than other drivers, particularly crashes involving single vehicles, crashes on curves, night-time accidents and when driving at excessive speed.
