We conducted a quantitative analysis of ALSPAC participants to investigate patterns of multiple cancer risk behaviours across adolescence (11-18 years) and their associations with future cancer risk behaviours in early adulthood (24 years). We found there was a very strong association between adolescent and young adult behaviours. While there has been some quantitative work examining the association between adolescent risk profiles and early adult risk, there has been little in the way of qualitative work to explore how young people and/or early adults themselves understand this relationship. Researchers have called for young people to have a stronger voice as key to improving adolescent health, and means being sensitive to young people’s construction of risk behaviour. As such, this qualitative study attempts to address this gap in the literature.