The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do - Hardcover

Ponton, Lynn E.

3.95

43 ratings by Goodreads

9780465070756: The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465070752 ISBN 13: 9780465070756

Publisher: Basic Books, 1997

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In the tradition of Irvin Yalom's "Love's Executioner, " Dr. Lynn Ponton's remarkable book takes readers inside the minds of 15 troubled adolescents to provide a compelling look at today's teenage experience. Included are Jill, a 13-year-old thrill-seeking runaway; Hannah, a privileged daughter of suburbia who suffers from anorexia; and Joe, a high school senior with a serious drinking problem. The case studies vary from the puzzling to the horrifying, but with her confident and engaging voice, Ponton brings out the unifying themes in all of them. She proposes that teenage "acting out" can be understood in terms of "risk-taking, "and that by redirecting this natural impulse into healthy channels parents can minimize the dangers inherent in today's teen culture and help their children develop into mature individuals. Challenging the traditional views of adolescence and offering a constructive new model for understanding teenage behavior, "The Romance of Risk" is an essential book for parents concerned about their children's well-being in this age of drug abuse, rampant violence and AIDS."Lynn Ponton has managed to become an expert on adolescence without losing her sympathy for risk and rebellion. She is able to bring out the best in distraught teenagers and their distraught parents. "The Romance of Risk" is one of those rare books that clarifies the nature of adolescence."(Peter D. Kramer, author of "Listening to Proazac" "A wise, compassionate portrait of teenagers today by a gifted physician who admires their courage and integrity, understands the terrible messes they get into, and, ultimately, helps them grow up."(Judith Wallerstein, author of "Second Chances" and "TheGood Marriage" "A valuable contribution to understanding adolescents who take risks. It will encourage rather than dishearten most parents. This is a very fine book by a very fine clinician."(Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, author of Close to the Bone "Experimentation is the hallmark of adolescence. ... Lynn Ponton's compelling volume shows how parents can help adolescents manage their risk-taking in ways that enhance, rather than endanger, the healthy growth of identity."(Edward Zigler, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Psychology, Yale University "A book brimming with humanity... Lynn Ponton paints vivid portraits and then openly and honestly offers refreshingly pragmatic strategies for addressing dangerous behaviors in teens."--Lenore Terr, M.D., author of "Too Scared to Cry" and "Unchained Memories" "The Romance of Risk" rings with truth. Adolescent risk-taking can make for searing reading, but this book's knowledge empowers the reader as Dr. Ponton empowers her patients."--John Schowalter, M.D., Albert J. Solnit Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Yale Child Study

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From the Author:

TEN TIPS FOR PARENTS : Understanding your teen's behavior
1- All teenagers take risks as a normal part of growing up. Risk-taking is the tool an adolescent uses to define and develop his or her identity, and healthy risk-taking is a valuable experience.

2- Healthy adolescent risk taking behaviors which tend to have a positive impact on an adolescent's developement can include participation in sports, the development of artistic and creative abilities, volunteer activities, travel, running for school office, making new friends, constructive contributions to the family or community, and others. Inherent in all these activities is the possibility of failure. Parents must recognize and support their child with this.

3- Negative risk-taking behaviors which can be dangerous for adolescents include drinking, smoking, drug use, reckless driving, unsafe sexual activity, disordered eating, self mutilation, running away, stealing, gang activity, and others.

4- Unhealthy adolescent risk-taking may appear to be "rebelion"--an angry gesture directed specifically at parents. However, risk-taking, wether healthy or unhealthy is simply part of the teen's struggle to test out an identity by providing self-definition and separation from others, including parents.

5- Some adolescent behaviors are deceptive -- a teen may genuinely try to take a healthy risk that evolves into a more dangerous behavior. For exemple, many adolescents girls fail to recognize the trap of dieting and fall into a pattern of disordered eating, sometimes even developing a full eating disorder. Parents need to be well informed in order to help their adolescent with such struggles.

6- "Red Flags" which help identify dangerous adolescent risk-taking can include psychological problems such as persistent depression or anxiety which goes beyond more typical adolescent "moodiness" ; problems at school; engaging in illegal activities; and clusters of unhealthy risk-taking behaviors (e.g., smoking, drinking and driving recklessly might be happening at the same time, as might disordered eating, self-mutilation, or running away and stealing).

7- Since adolescents need to take risks, parents need to help them find healthy opportunities to do so. Healthy risk-taking, not only important in itself, can help prevent unhealthy risk-taking.

8- Adolescents often offer subtle clues about their negative risk-taking through what they say about the behaviors of friends and family, including parents. Parents often stay silent about their own histories of risk-taking and experimenting, but it can be important to find ways to share this information with adolecents in order to serve as role models, to let teens know that mistakes are not fatal and to encourage making healthier choices than those the parents may have made during his or her own adolescence.

9- Adolescents look to their parents for advice and modeling about how to assess positive and negative risks. Parents need to help their teens learn how to evaluate risks and anticipate the consequences of their choices, and develop strategies for diverting their energy into healthier activities when necessary.

10- Parents need to pay attention to their own current patterns of risk-taking as well. Teenagers are watching, and imitating, wether they acknowledge it or not.

About the Author:

Lynn Ponton is a practicing clinical psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco. She has written hundreds of articles in publications such as USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times,Clinical Psychiatry News, Science, and Woman's Day.

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