'You only live once' mentality in University students in relation to time perspective and risk-taking behaviour

Abstract

YOLO (you only live once), a popular acronym among emerging adults including university students can be interpreted in one of two ways; as a live-for-the-moment attitude or to pursue one's one dreams before it is too late. The students' perception of YOLO can be positive or negative, one might be encouraged to pursue their dreams and aspirations thus focusing more on his/ her studies, or the other way round by living in the moment and engaging in risk taking behaviour due to disregarding the consequences of one's actions, thus distracting themselves from their studies. The purpose of this study was to explore how university students' perception of the acronym 'YOLO' is related to their time perspective and risk-taking behaviour. A qualitative study was conducted in which a self-designed open ended interviews were used to collect The data collection was analysed using thematic analysis as a research method. The four major themes which emerged were: Happiness and Self-fulfilment, Subjective Risk-taking, Self-regulation and Seeking balance.