Are Mid-Adolescents Prone to Risky Decisions? The Influence of Task Setting and Individual Differences in Temperament

Abstract

Recent developmental models assume a higher tendency to take risks in mid-adolescence, while the empirical evidence for this assumption is rather mixed. Most of the studies applied quite different tasks to measure risk-taking behavior and used a narrow age range. The main goal of the present study was to examine risk-taking behavior in four task settings, the Treasure Hunting Task (THT) in a gain and a loss domain, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), and the STOPLIGHT task. These task settings differ in affective task moderators, like descriptive vs. experienced outcomes, anticipation of gains vs. losses, static vs. dynamic risk presentation, and time pressure vs. no time pressure and were applied in a sample of 187 participants from age 9–18. Beneath age trends, we were interested in their association with individual differences in approach behavior, venturesomeness, impulsivity, and empathy above age, gender, and fluid intelligence. Our findings revealed that risk-taking behavior is only low to moderately correlated between the four task contexts, suggesting that they capture different aspects of risk-taking behavior. Accordingly, a mid-adolescent peak in risk propensity was only found under time pressure in the STOPLIGHT that was associated with higher impulsivity and empathy. In contrast, risky decisions decreased with increasing age in task settings, in which losses were anticipated (THT Loss), and this was associated with higher cognitive abilities. We found no age differences when gains were anticipated, neither in a static (THT Gain) nor in a dynamic task setting (BART). These findings clearly suggest the need to consider affective task moderators, as well as individual differences in temperament and cognitive abilities, in actual models about adolescent development.

Explore with Me: Peer Observation Decreases Risk-Taking but Increases Exploration Tendencies across Adolescence

“…Furthermore, researchers can create more dynamic version of traditional decision making tasks by manipulating the trial-by-trial probabilities of positive or negative outcomes. Using similar dynamic approaches, recent findings indicate that adolescents readily increase risky choices as opposed to situations under known risks (Defoe et al, 2019;Lorenz & Kray, 2019), also known as ambiguity tolerance. Such as heightened ambiguity tolerance in youth, peer presence effects interact with adolescent decision-making only in situations where the probabilities of outcomes are ambiguous instead of explicit (Lloyd & Döring, 2019; but see Smith et al, 2014).…”

Age differences in decision making under known risk: The role of working memory and impulsivity.

“…In contrast, in experience-based tasks in which the risk level dynamically changes from trial to trial, or decisions have to be taken under time pressure or in the presence of peers (e.g., Defoe et al, 2015), some studies showed a peak in risk taking in mid to late adolescence. These findings further highlight the need to differentiate between types of decision-making situations (see Lorenz & Kray, 2019;Romer et al, 2017 for similar arguments), to better understand when, why, and what type of adolescents indeed decide to take risks, as well as to separate risky behavior from tolerance to ambiguity (Blankenstein et al, 2016;Tymula et al, 2012).…”

“…scales measuring pleasure seeking, low fear, and low shyness, and thereby is probably more closely related to sensation seeking. Interestingly, in a study that compared the impact of various measures of individual differences in temperament between decision-making tasks, among them the THT, impulsivity has been found to increase risky choices under time pressure in a different experience-based task context, the Stoplight task (Lorenz & Kray, 2019). This suggests that impulsivity or a lack of self-control is not irrelevant for the prediction of risky choices but such associations highly depend on characteristics of the decision-making process.…”

Adolescence Online Religious Content Consumption and Their Tendency Toward Violent Extremism

“…To encourage Indonesia to benefit from the demographic bonus, we need to pay attention to these teenagers. During adolescence, the tendency to engage in risky behavior increases [9,10,11]. Among these risky behaviors include aggressive or violent behavior.…”