Risk-taking behaviours in adolescents

Risk-taking behaviours often reflect ambivalent ways of calling for the help of one's close friends and family - those who count. In spite of the suffering it engenders, risk-taking nevertheless has a positive side, fostering independence in adolescents and a search for reference points; it leads to a better self-image and is a means of developing one's identity. It is nonetheless painful in terms of the repercussions it has through the injuries, death or addiction it incurs. But let us not forget that the suffering in upstream, perpetuated by a complex relation between a society, a family structure and a life history.