Managing High-Risk Behavior in Adolescents

Jess P. Shatkin, MD, MPH, is the Cathy and Stephen Graham Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Professor of Pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Shatkin is also the founder and director of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies (CAMS) at NYU College of Arts & Science, the nation’s largest undergraduate mental health studies program, which has been emulated at numerous universities nationwide.

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It’s no secret that adolescents engage in risky behavior — driving under the influence, texting while driving, having unprotected sex, using drugs, and even something as simple as not wearing a bicycle helmet. Most people assume that adolescents must believe they’re invincible. Why else would they do these things? Yet it’s this very assumption of adolescent invincibility that has been our downfall when it comes to preventing high-risk adolescent behavior. In this lecture, Dr. Shatkin will dispel the myth of adolescent invincibility, demonstrate the real reasons adolescents engage in risk, and provide practical strategies for keeping teens and young adults safe.

• Identify the common risks that adolescents take
• Distinguish how adolescents assess risk differently from adults 3. Understand several possible explanations for why adolescents take risks
• Describe how adolescents make decisions involving risk
• Utilize several practices that will help minimize adolescent risk-taking

Dr. Jess P. Shatkin has no relevant financial relationship with ineligible companies to disclose.

The Child Mind Institute Visiting Professor Lecture Series invites leaders in the field of child and adolescent mental health to talk about the latest research and treatment protocols. All events are open to the public. Continuing medical education (CME) credits for psychiatrists and continuing education (CE) credits for psychologists and social workers are available to registered course participants. Learn more.