Beyond stereotypes of adolescent risk taking: Placing the adolescent brain in developmental context

Abstract

Recent neuroscience models of adolescent brain development attribute the morbidity and mortality of this period to structural and functional imbalances between more fully developed limbic regions that subserve reward and emotion as opposed to those that enable cognitive control. We challenge this interpretation of adolescent development by distinguishing risk-taking that peaks during adolescence (sensation seeking and impulsive action) from risk taking that declines monotonically from childhood to adulthood (impulsive choice and other decisions under known risk). Sensation seeking is primarily motivated by exploration of the environment under ambiguous risk contexts, while impulsive action, which is likely to be maladaptive, is more characteristic of a subset of youth with weak control over limbic motivation. Risk taking that declines monotonically from childhood to adulthood occurs primarily under conditions of known risks and reflects increases in executive function as well as aversion to risk based on increases in gist-based reasoning. We propose an alternative Lifespan Wisdom Model that highlights the importance of experience gained through exploration during adolescence. We propose, therefore, that brain models that recognize the adaptive roles that cognition and experience play during adolescence provide a more complete and helpful picture of this period of development.

Examining children's ability to delay reward: Is the delay discounting task a suitable measure?

“…The lack of a relation between sensation seeking and children's performance on both of the delayed reward tasks was not consistent with our prediction, based on extrapolating the developmental findings of Romer et al () with adolescents, that sensation seeking would be negatively correlated with younger children's ability to delay gratification. However, our findings are largely consistent with Romer, Reyna, and Satterthwaithe's () recent suggestion that sensation seeking in and of itself should not be viewed as a feature of impulsivity. Indeed, Romer et al (; see also Khurana et al, ) argue that, although preference for smaller immediate rewards should be viewed as a facet of weak self‐control that is associated with poorer developmental outcomes, high levels of sensation seeking can be adaptive across the adolescent period and are not in and of themselves predictive of poorer long‐term outcomes.…”

When do peers influence adolescent males' risk taking? Examining decision making under conditions of risk and ambiguity

“…Adolescence is a period of increased risk behavior both within and outside of laboratory conditions (Arnett, ; Defoe et al, ). That adolescent males are more likely to gamble in conditions of ambiguity suggests that reckless behavior in this population may not be a maladaptive behavior as traditionally suggested (Romer et al, ). Pursuing ambiguous outcomes allows adolescents to collect information about the probabilities involved in novel scenarios, contributing to their experiential knowledge (Crone & Dahl, ).…”

“…Indeed, neuroimaging research has found that areas responsible for monitoring performance feedback exhibit higher levels of activation in conditions of ambiguity compared with risk (Blankenstein, Schreuders, Peper, Crone, & van Duijvenvoorde, ). The present study makes a novel addition to the literature by suggesting that tolerance to ambiguity increases towards “middle adolescence.” This finding is consistent with trends of exploration in the Lifespan Wisdom Model and reflects the age at which the greatest levels of real‐world reckless behaviors are observed (Arnett, ; Gittes & Irwin, ; Jonah, ; Romer et al, ). Although this study did not measure exploration, the trend to gamble more under ambiguity as individuals mature may serve the need for adolescents to develop a reliable experiential framework to guide future decisions in later life (Blankenstein et al, ).…”

“…Rather, persistently antisocial behavior in adolescents reflects only a subsample of this population (Moffitt, ). As such, the present study is consistent with the growing body of literature that suggests risk behavior in adolescence can have a beneficial role within the lifespan (Romer et al, ).…”

“…Although adolescence is a period of physical health, teenagers are disproportionally represented in statistics related to hazardous behaviors including dangerous driving, drug misuse, and risky sexual practices (Arnett, ; Gittes & Irwin, ; Jonah, ). Recently, it has been suggested that situational conditions influence adolescents' likelihood of engaging in risky actions (Romer, Reyna, & Satterthwaite, ). These researchers propose that when the probabilities involved in outcomes of a decision are hidden and thus ambiguous, adolescents are more likely to opt for these choices than when probabilities are known (van den Bos & Van den Bos & Hertwig, ).…”