Lecture Summary | Risk Behaviour and Addiction | Utrecht University | 2026/27

Lectures - Risk behaviour and addiction
Course coordinators: Dr. Tobias Stark, Dr. Borja Mar
2008000285, 07/09/2026 - 06/11/2026
Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
By Hasse Meeter




An overview and summary of all lectures. Every lecture refers to one or multiple literary research articles. A global
reference to these articles will be mentioned at times, but this document/summary focuses on the content of the
lectures and will not further incorporate or talk about the content of the articles.

Separate summary on content of articles is also posted on my Stuvia account (hassemeeter) and will, in combination
with this document, cover all required course material for the exam.

, Table of Contents
Lecture 1: an introduction to risk behaviour and the development of substance and behavioural
addictions during adolescence ..................................................................................................... 3
Defining risk behaviour and addiction ........................................................................................... 3
Neurological developments of adolescence and the peak in risk behaviour .................................... 3
Addiction to games or social media............................................................................................... 4
Lecture 2: prevention of risk behaviour and addiction in young people ............................................ 5
Substance use prevention and psychoactive substances ............................................................... 5
Drug prevalence: perception vs reality and the ecological model .................................................... 5
Prevention styles and qualitative interventional frameworks ........................................................... 5
Lecture 3: the role of peers: should peers be considered a risk or protective factor? ........................ 6
Peer influence and risk behaviours in adolescence ........................................................................ 6
Distinguishing between peer selection and influence eGects ......................................................... 6
Types of peer influence................................................................................................................. 6
Peer pressure, imitation, mutual reinforcement, peer norms, and their influence on behaviour ........ 7
Parents and the shaping of peer context and peer influence ........................................................... 7
Lecture 4: international teen trends in substance use: what’s driving them? ................................... 8
Introduction and adolescent context............................................................................................. 8
Policies on alcohol use ................................................................................................................. 8
Alcohol use in the Netherlands ..................................................................................................... 8
International trends in alcohol use ................................................................................................ 8
Possible explanations for international trends in alcohol use .......................................................... 8
Lecture 5: the role of parents in the development of risk behaviour and addiction ........................... 9
Parental influence on adolescent development ............................................................................. 9
Parenting strategies and adolescent risk behaviour ........................................................................ 9
The mediating eGects of self-control ............................................................................................. 9
Parental eGects on adolescent alcohol use ................................................................................... 9
Parental eGects on social media use ............................................................................................. 9
Lecture 6: individual vulnerability to risk behaviour and addiction ................................................. 10
The development of addiction through the lens of classical and operant conditioning ................... 10
Individual vulnerability for risk behaviour and addiction ............................................................... 10
Genetics and the risk of developing addiction .............................................................................. 10
Personality and the risk of developing addiction........................................................................... 10
Psychosocial disorders, psychiatric disorders, negative life events and the risk of developing
addiction ................................................................................................................................... 10
Lecture 7: neurobiological and behavioural mechanisms of addiction ........................................... 11
Defining addiction and context ................................................................................................... 11
Theories of addiction in animal research ..................................................................................... 11
Lecture 8: resolving the problem of addiction: behavioural interventions and clinical treatment ..... 13
Prevalence, comorbidity, and treatment ...................................................................................... 13
Behavioural change .................................................................................................................... 13
Applying the transtheoretical model to adolescent smoking in the Netherlands ............................ 13
Inspiring behavioural change in oneself and others ...................................................................... 13
Synthesis of this course.............................................................................................................. 14




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