How do environmental, family, and situational influences affect child and adolescent health-risk behaviors?
Research shows that how parents interact with their children can affect the extent to which young people are initiated into risky behaviors. Research is needed to identify the most effective strategies families can use to support their children’s healthy development. This is particularly true during middle childhood, when parents can play a critical protective role in guiding children’s acquisition of healthy behaviors. Research is also needed on the effects of other environmental and situational influences — such as the media and popular culture, peer groups, schools, and community organizations — on the health-risk perceptions and behaviors of children and adolescents. All of these influences are potential tools in designing effective health promotion approaches. • How do children and adolescents perceive the risks of engaging in health-compromising behavior and what approaches would help them to adopt more health-enhancing behavior? Though most youth who engage in health-compromis
