A surprising number of teenagers — nearly 15 percent — think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide(自杀) attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.
The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional( 传统的) wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're invulnerable(不会受伤害的, 无懈可击的) to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake," said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota(明尼苏达).
That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism(宿命论) into a self-fulfilling(本身自然会实现的) prophecy(预言). Over seven years, kids who thought they would die early were seven time more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS. They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.