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GOALS: The main objective was to identify the specific features of high-risk behaviour among adolescents. The focus is on differences in high-risk behaviour with respect to the age and gender of adolescents. METHODS: The forms of high-risk behaviour were surveyed using the VRCHA questionnaire, which consists of 18 items aimed at detecting bullying, delinquency, and psychoactive substance abuse in the preceding 30 days. PARTICIPANTS: The representative participants were students of four-, six-, and eight-year grammar schools in the Czech Republic, or, more specifically, 4,120 students aged from 11 to 19 years. RESULTS: Differences were established in high-risk behaviour in relation to the age of the adolescents, both at the level of the research instrument and its variables. High-risk behaviour increases with age, and the research also identified gender differences in selected age groups. CONCLUSION: The risk behaviour rates soar with the increasing age of the subject. High-risk behaviour does not concern only boys, as the distribution was found to be similar for both boys and girls. The age range marked by a dramatic increase in this behaviour was from 14 to 16 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests four forms of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these forms conduce to different ways of thinking and acting. Guided by this perspective, we examined in a multinational and multicultural study (61 countries; N = 15,039) how narcissism forms are linked to cognitions and behaviors prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, differences in cognitions and behaviors across narcissism forms emerged. For example, higher narcissistic rivalry predicted lower likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors, but higher narcissistic sanctity predicted higher likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Further, whereas the heroism, admiration, and rivalry narcissism forms acted in a typically antisocial manner, with high narcissism predicting greater endorsement of unfounded health beliefs, the sanctity form acted in a prosocial manner, with higher narcissism being linked to lower endorsement of unfounded COVID-19 health beliefs. Thus, the findings (a) support the idea of four narcissism forms acting differently, and (b) show that these differences reflect a double-edged sword, sometimes linking to an anti-social orientation, and sometimes linking to a pro-social orientation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Slovak version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS-SK) in a sample of adult Slovaks ( N  = 743). The data were collected online during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. Along with the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Well-Being Index were administered to the respondents. The results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis show a stable uni-dimensional structure of the CAS-SK, good reliability, and adequate convergent validity. The Item Response Theory findings suggest that all items have good discrimination parameters, all thresholds increased monotonically across the rating scale, and that the CAS-SK is more informative in individuals with a high level of coronavirus anxiety. These results suggest that the CAS-SK is a valid and reliable tool for measuring coronavirus anxiety.