By Anna Zhu
My burning curiosity about risky decision making started in high school. I witnessed some of my brightest friends make bad choices, slack off in school, and lose their way. I wondered, why do teens make these decisions that jeopardize their health, future, or lives, and how can we help them? I’m tackling these questions as part of an internship with Dr. Valerie Reyna, professor in the department of human development, College of Human Ecology.
One month into the internship, I taught a workshop on Reducing the Risk in Adolescence at the 4-H Career Explorations Conference, along with other members of Dr. Reyna’s lab. We gave the students a tour of our lab, offered advice on how to get involved in research and in college, and discussed the critical thinking and commitment involved in planning and carrying out a good research study.
The students in our workshop got to see social science research in action. We randomly assigned each student to one of two curricula being studied in Reyna’s lab – EatFit, a program promoting healthy eating and fitness or the Gist-Enhanced Reducing the Risk (RTRgist), a sexual health program based on Reyna’s research on adolescent memory and decision making. According to this research, when teens focus on details and statistics – a common feature of traditional health classes – they are more likely to make risky choices compared to when they focus on the overall meaning or “gist” of a situation.
As one of the EatFit teachers, I found the 4-H students incredibly enthusiastic about the hands-on activities. For example, students were shocked when we demonstrated exactly how many tablespoons of sugar are in a bottle of soda. The material we taught in both the RTRgist and Eatfit classes seemed to make a strong impression, but without further research, the results would be purely anecdotal. To test the effectiveness of the classes, the research team will conduct follow-up surveys with the students over the next 12 months and analyze results to identify changes in risky behaviors.
It’s exciting to look at the data analyses and realize that the work we do with teens can positively affect their behavior and lifestyle! I hope that one day health classes around the nation will benefit from the lessons we’re learning about how teens make decisions.
From this experience, I’ve already gained valuable skills in teaching, statistical analysis, and social science research – tools I expect to use in my career in public health. I’m excited to continue working with Dr. Reyna to increase my knowledge of risky decision making in adolescents.
Anna Zhu, ‘14, is a Human Biology, Health & Society major in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. This summer she is participating in an extension internship with Dr. Valerie Reyna sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension.