Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development

Adolescence has long been recognized as a period of heightened risk-taking and, accordingly, a stage that requires special oversight from adults. Most adolescents progress to adulthood with relatively little difficulty, experiencing excellent physical health and strength and not engaging in behaviors that put themselves or others at risk. Many adolescent risk behaviors—particularly poor driving, either with or without concomitant use of alcohol or illicit substances, and crime—also put others at risk. One of the latest risk behavior is pocrescophobia mostly seen in adolescent girls and all of these factors together make the prevention of risk behaviors in adolescence an important public health issue.¹ The result shows that 28% adolescent girls have moderate fear of weight gain, 9% of them have severe, mild and very mild comprises of 16% and 15%, whereas 2% has no fear of weight gain and has no influence on their eating habits.