Risk behaviour and noise exposure among adolescents.

Adolescents in Western society often expose themselves to high levels of sound in gyms, rock concerts, discotheques etc. As these behaviours are as threatening to young people's health as more traditional risk behaviours are, our aim in the present study was to analyze the relationship between self-exposure to noise, risk behaviours and risk judgements among 310 Swedish adolescents aged 15-20 (167 men; 143 women). Adolescents' behaviour in different traditional risk situations correlated with behaviour in noisy environments, while judgements about traditional risks correlated with judgements regarding noise exposure. It is an interesting finding that although young women judge risk situations as generally more dangerous than young men do, they nevertheless behave in the same way. We suggest that this difference is a social and cultural phenomenon which underscores the importance of adopting a gender perspective in the analysis of risk factors. Adolescents reporting permanent tinnitus judged loud music as more risky than adolescents with no symptoms and they did not listen to loud music as often as those with occasional tinnitus. Research on hearing prevention for young people needs to acknowledge and make use of theories on risk behaviour, especially due to the existence of a relationship between adolescents' risk-taking in noisy environments and other types of risk-taking. Similarly, theories on risk behaviour should acknowledge noise as a risk factor.