The Relationship between Adolescent Risk-Taking Behavior and Guilt versus Shame Proneness

This study examined the correlation between adolescent risk-taking behaviors and guilt versus shame proneness. The participants were given an adolescent risk-taking questionnaire that focused on negative high and low risk-taking behaviors and the TOSCA-3 questionnaire. The adolescent risk-taking questionnaire focused on the participants past behaviors from the ages of 13-18. The TOSCA-3 was used to determine if a participant was guilt-prone or shame-prone. The data collected from both instruments were analyzed for whether adolescent risk-taking behaviors were correlated with guilt proneness or shame proneness. The results of the Pearson r correlations indicated a significant negative correlation between adolescent risk-taking, shame and guilt. The results of the t Tests also indicated that those with a lower shame scores and lower guilt scores had significantly higher adolescent risk-taking scores. Overall, this means that adolescents who are less shame and guilt prone are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviors