One in seven adolescents think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behaviour, a new research has suggested.

University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 youth in grades 7 through 12 during three separate study years. In the first set of interviews, nearly 15 percent of adolescents predicted they had a 50/50 chance or less of living to age 35.

The researchers found that those who engaged in risky behaviours such as illicit drug use, suicide attempts, fighting, or unsafe sexual activity in the first year were more likely in subsequent years to believe they would die at a young age.

Vice versa, those who predicted that they'd die young during the first interview were more likely in later years to begin engaging in these same risky behaviors and have poor health outcomes, the researchers found.

Notably, these teens were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS just six years later, regardless of their sexual preference.

"While conventional wisdom says that teens engage in risky behaviours because they feel invulnerable to harm, this study suggests that in some cases, teens take risks because they overestimate their vulnerability, specifically their risk of dying," Borowsky said.

"These youth may take risks because they feel hopeless and figure that not

much is at stake," Borowsky added.

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