Risk-taking (e.g., dangerous driving, substance use) rises during adolescence and can result in both adaptive consequences (e.g., social acceptance) and maladaptive consequences (e.g., alcohol poisoning, premature death). Adolescents also experience an increase in self-conscious emotions, including shame. Shame-prone adolescents may engage in risk-taking to cope with negative self-perceptions. Previous research is contradictory, however, finding shame and risk-taking to be positively correlated, negatively correlated, or not related at all. One reason for this may be that shame was assessed as an overall construct. Some conceptualizations of shame dictate that people can experience several types of shame, including body (e.g., shame about physical appearance), character (e.g., shame of personal habits), and behavioural (e.g., shame about doing something wrong). Our study fills this gap by examining how different types of shame are related to different types of risk-taking behaviours and subsequent outcomes. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Author Keywords: Adolescence, Behaviour shame, Body shame, Character shame, Emerging adulthood, Risk-taking