Impact of Self-Regulation Intervention on Risk Taking and Self-Regulatory Behavior in Adolescents

Adolescents experiment with new things, some of which may be risky and even dangerous. Self-regulation of behavior, where the adolescents are made aware of the possible consequences of their behavior, and which helps in developing critical life skills in adolescents is a dire need. Keeping this in mind it is important to not only treat the affected population but also prevent the youth from taking risk and make them able to regulate their thoughts, emotions and behavior to prevent negative consequences. The present study was therefore designed to study the impact of self-regulation training on the risk taking and self-regulatory behavior in adolescents. To identify the high risk takers, Risk taking questionnaire was administered on 400 subjects (15-17 years) of both genders. The screened group of high risk takers were administered self-regulation questionnaire and then taken forward for the intervention program meant to tackle these problems at the cognitive, behavioral and emotional levels. There was a marked decline in the risk taking behavior as well as greater degree of self-regulation post intervention.