Risk Taking in Adolescence: New Perspectives From Brain and Behavioral Science

ABSTRACT— Trying to understand why adolescents and young adults take more risks than younger or older individuals do has challenged psychologists for decades. Adolescents' inclination to engage in risky behavior does not appear to be due to irrationality, delusions of invulnerability, or ignorance. This paper presents a perspective on adolescent risk taking grounded in developmental neuroscience. According to this view, the temporal gap between puberty, which impels adolescents toward thrill seeking, and the slow maturation of the cognitive-control system, which regulates these impulses, makes adolescence a time of heightened vulnerability for risky behavior. This view of adolescent risk taking helps to explain why educational interventions designed to change adolescents' knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes have been largely ineffective, and suggests that changing the contexts in which risky behavior occurs may be more successful than changing the way adolescents think about risk.     

Trauma and Deferred Action in the Reality of Adolescence

In the search for ever earlier determinants of adult pathology many ignore the transformative impact of adolescence. The authors suggest that the reality of adolescent development creates a vulnerability to being overwhelmed. Through deferred action childhood experiences may interact with adolescent realities and omnipotent beliefs to traumatize the adolescent. The authors suggest that trauma in adolescence can be independent both of the intensity of current external exposure or of earlier traumatic experiences.     

Neurobehavioral deficits,adolescent traumatic brain injury,and transition to college

Outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been frequently evaluated for adults, although there has been minimal research on adolescents with TBI. It has been argued that TBI sequelae may be more difficult for adolescents to adjust to given developmental changes in physical (puberty), interpersonal (self-concept), and environmental domains (transition to college). In addition, it is commonly acknowledged that moderator variables such as psychiatric history, family functioning, substance use, and sexuality impact functional outcome following TBI, although it is often difficult to objectively evaluate these variables. The current study examined relationships among TBI-related deficits, moderator variables, and academic outcomes for six adolescents transitioning to college. The findings suggest that it may not be appropriate to predict functional outcome based solely on objective neuropsychological results. However, moderator variables appear to have a more direct relationship with outcome, depending on the moderator variable and the individual.     

青少年冒险行为及其与人格、依恋的关系

该文采用问卷法对671名初、高中生及大学生进行青少年冒险行为、人格、同伴依恋调查。结果发现,性别、年龄、独生子女与否对青少年冒险行为均有不同程度的影响作用;人格五因素既对青少年冒险行为有直接预测作用,又以同伴依恋的疏远维度为中介间接影响青少年冒险行为。     

The Network Constellation of Personality and Substance Use: Evolution from Early to Late Adolescence

There is a well-established link between substance use and four personality traits of anxiety–sensitivity, hopelessness, impulsivity, and sensation-seeking. However, construct-level models of personality may conceal indicator-level personality–outcome associations. The current study aims to investigate evolution of the network constellation of personality and cannabis/alcohol use from early to late adolescence. Data comes from the longitudinal Co-Venture cohort (N = 3800). Personality indicators, measured by Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) items, and the frequency of cannabis/alcohol use were assessed at four consecutive years (13–17 years old). Network constellations of the SURPS items and cannabis/alcohol use were estimated using Bayesian Gaussian graphical models at four time points. Results highlighted the age-specific associations between personality indicators and substance use. The positive role of the sensation-seeking trait (e.g. attitude towards transgression) was constant, whereas the positive role of hopelessness indicators (e.g. not being enthusiastic about future) and the negative role of anxiety–sensitivity indicators (e.g. fear of having unusual body sensations) were more prominent at early adolescence. The current study provides a novel perspective on the network structure of personality and substance use in adolescence and suggests substance-specific and age-adjusted targets in intervention efforts. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional,but not non-emotional,response conflict

While much research on adolescent risk behaviour has focused on the development of prefrontal self-regulatory mechanisms, prior studies have elicited mixed evidence of a relationship between individual differences in the capacity for self-regulation and individual differences in risk taking. To explain these inconsistent findings, it has been suggested that the capacity for self-regulation may be, for most adolescents, adequately mature to produce adaptive behaviour in non-affective, “cold” circumstances, but that adolescents have a more difficult time exerting control in affective, “hot” contexts. To further explore this claim, the present study examined individual differences in self-control in the face of affective and non-affective response conflict, and examined whether differences in the functioning of cognitive control processes under these different conditions was related to risk taking. Participants completed a cognitive Stroop task, an emotional Stroop task, and a risky driving task known as the Stoplight game. Regression analyses showed that performance on the emotional Stroop task predicted laboratory risk-taking in the driving task, whereas performance on the cognitive Stroop task did not exhibit the same trend. This pattern of results is consistent with theories of adolescent risk-taking that emphasise the impacts of affective contextual influences on the ability to enact effective cognitive control.     

Possible Insomnia Predicts Some Risky Behaviors Among Adolescents When Controlling for Depressive Symptoms

Attachment theory asserts that secure attachment representations are developed through sensitive and consistent caregiving. If sensitive caregiving is a constant characteristic of the parent, then siblings should have concordant attachment classifications. The authors explored maternal attachment quality assessed by the Attachment Q-Set, maternal sensitivity, and specific mother–child interactions between siblings. Hour-long observations took place in the homes of 9 preschool sibling pairs and their immediate caregivers. The interactions were analyzed using a modified version of Bales’ Small Group Analysis. The results reveal attachment discordance in a third of sibling pairs. While maternal sensitivity was higher with older siblings and mothers displayed more positive emotions when interacting with their younger siblings, attachment quality was not associated with birth order. Therefore, a shift toward a more contextual, family-based perspective of attachment is recommended to further understand how attachment strategies are created and maintained within the child's everyday context.     

Attentional capture by emotional faces in adolescence

Poor decision making during adolescence occurs most frequently when situations are emotionally charged. However, relatively few studies have measured the development of cognitive control in response to emotional stimuli in this population. This study used both affective (emotional faces) and non-affective (letter) stimuli in two different flanker tasks to assess the ability to ignore task-irrelevant but distracting information, in 25 adults and 25 adolescents. On the non-emotional (letter) flanker task, the presence of incongruent flanking letters increased the number of errors, and also slowed participants’ ability to identify a central letter. Adolescents committed more errors than adults, but there were no age-related differences for the reaction time interference effect in the letter condition. Post-hoc testing revealed that age-related differences on the task were driven by the younger adolescents (11-14 years); adults and older adolescents (15-17 years) were equally accurate in the letter condition. In contrast, on the emotional face flanker task, not only were adolescents less accurate than adults but they were also more distracted by task-irrelevant fearful faces as evidenced by greater reaction time interference effects. Our findings suggest that the ability to self-regulate in adolescents, as evidenced by the ability to suppress irrelevant information on a flanker task, is more difficult when stimuli are affective in nature. The ability to ignore irrelevant flankers appears to mature earlier for non-affective stimuli than for affective stimuli.     

人格与青少年犯罪的关系研究

简要介绍了有关青少年犯罪的人格理论,然后按照研究中所采用的不同的人格测量工具：明尼苏达多相人格测验、艾森克人格问卷、卡特尔16项人格因素测验和加利福尼亚人格问卷,以及大五人格问卷分类综述了近10年来人格与青少年犯罪的关系研究。近五年的研究主要采用大五人格结构,将变量中心法和个体中心法相结合,以及将人格和环境因素相结合来研究人格对青少年犯罪的影响作用。进一步的研究需要在人格测量和研究设计上予以改进,深入揭示人格对青少年犯罪的影响机制     

How Does Explicit Versus Implicit Risk Information Influence Adolescent Risk‐Taking Engagement?

Adolescents have been shown to be more likely to engage in risky behaviors in daily life. Many studies have indicated that adolescents could make advantageous choices when they receive explicit information but could fail to choose advantageously when they are not informed about risks. The current study aimed to examine the influence of explicit risk information (i.e., when risk information is directly available) versus implicit risk information (i.e., when risk information has to be learned from feedback) on risk‐taking engagement, in order to clarify whether the enhanced risk‐taking observed in decision making under ambiguity in adolescents results from either a greater exploration of ambiguous situations (i.e., a higher ambiguity tolerance) or a specific difficulty associated with learning based on previous choices' outcomes. Adolescents and young adults completed a new adaptation of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. They were required to accumulate as many points as possible by inflating balloons associated with variable break points and avoiding explosions. This adaptation involved a manipulation of the information level with two conditions, an “informed” condition and a “noninformed” condition, in which the participants had to learn the matching of colors with balloons' resistances based on feedback. The results demonstrated that providing explicit risk information allows adolescents to be as efficient as adults at the end of the game. In contrast, adolescents failed to adjust risk‐taking to the balloon resistance in the noninformed condition. These findings critically suggest that this failure reflects a specific impairment of feedback‐based learning ability but not a global excess of risk‐taking during adolescence. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived Neighborhood Social Resources as Determinants of Prosocial Behavior in Early Adolescence

The present study aims to develop an integrative model that links neighborhood behavioral opportunities and social resources (neighborhood cohesion, neighborhood friendship and neighborhood attachment) to prosocial (sharing, helping, empathic) behavior in early adolescence, taking into account the potential mediating role of perceived support of friends. Path analysis was used to test the proposed theoretical model in a sample of 1,145 Italian early adolescents (6th through 8th graders). More perceived opportunities and social resources in the neighborhood are related to higher levels of adolescent prosocial behavior, and this relationship is partially mediated by perceived social support from friends. The results offer promising implications for future research and intervention programs that aim to modify social systems to improve child and adolescent social competencies.     

青少年吸毒行为预防干预研究述评及展望

青少年吸毒问题已令人触目惊心,应引起研究者高度的关注。该文对国外18岁以下青少年吸毒预防干预的方法、模式和影响干预效果有效性的重要要素进行了述评,介绍了一些国外著名的青少年吸毒预防干预方案,在此基础上结合当前最新的研究进展对该领域未来的发展方向和趋势进行了展望。     

同伴排斥与青少年早期饮酒行为:同伴侵害和不良同伴的中介效应

采用同伴提名、同伴侵害问卷、不良同伴问卷和饮酒行为问卷调查广东地区4所普通初级中学1386名7年级学生,考察了同伴排斥与青少年早期饮酒行为的关系,以及同伴侵害和结交不良同伴在其中的链式中介效应。结果发现:(1)同伴排斥、同伴侵害和结交不良同伴均与青少年早期的饮酒行为呈显著正相关;(2)同伴侵害和结交不良同伴在同伴排斥影响青少年早期饮酒行为过程中的链式中介效应显著,即同伴排斥通过增加同伴侵害,从而提高结交不良同伴的风险,进而增加青少年早期的饮酒行为;(3)在控制同伴侵害和结交不良同伴后,同伴排斥对青少年早期的饮酒行为仍存在显著预测作用。     

青少年自我同一性发展研究

本研究以小学至高中阶段的青少年为研究对象,使用自我同一性状态客观测量的标准化问卷,对青少年的自我同一性发展规律进行分析,研究结果发现,自我同一性的发展是一个逐渐变化的过程,其中,初中是一个很重要的阶段;同时,自我同一性的发展在不同领域问表现出发展不同步的现象,人际关系领域发展比意识形态领域较早;另外,自我同一性发展受地区、性别角色等因素影响。     

青少年早期父母惩罚的特点

采用问卷法考察青少年早期父母惩罚的特点。发现,父亲与母亲对青少年的惩罚具有相当的一致性;城市父母的惩罚多于农村父母,他们对青少年的限制与严厉多于农村父母;父母对男青少年的惩罚多于对女青少年,对男青少年的体罚与限制多于女青少年;城市父亲对初三青少年的惩罚多于初一和初二青少年,农村父亲和城市母亲的体罚随年龄而下降;父母惩罚以限制为主,其次是体罚,严厉最少。     

Risk Factors for Adolescent Marijuana Use Across Cultures and Across Time

An integrated analysis of the data from 3 different studies was conducted to examine the early psychosocial predictors of later marijuana use among adolescents. Longitudinal analysis of interview data was performed. The data used in the analysis were derived from (a) a sample of 739 predominantly White adolescents representative of the northeastern United States, (b) a sample of 1,190 minority adolescents from the East Harlem section of New York City, and (c) a sample of 1,374 Colombian adolescents from two cities in Colombia. South America. In 2 of the samples, participants were interviewed in their homes, and in the 3rd study, participants were assessed in school. The predictors included a number of variables from (a) the personality domain, reflecting the adolescents' conventionality and intrapsychic functioning; (b) the family domain, representing the parent-child mutual attachment relationship and parental substance use; (c) the peer domain, reflecting the peer group's delinquency and substance use; and (d) the adolescents' own use of legal drugs. The dependent variable was adolescent marijuana use. The results of the analysis demonstrated remarkable consistency in the risk and protective factors for later marijuana use across the 3 samples, attesting to the robust nature of these predictors and their generalizability across gender, time, location, and ethnic/cultural background. These findings have important implications for designing intervention programs. Programs aimed at preventing adolescent marijuana use can be designed to incorporate universal features and still incorporate specific components that address the unique needs of adolescents from different groups.     

The Positives and Negatives of Higher Education: How the Religious Context in Adolescence Moderates the Effects of Education on Changes in Religiosity

Although longitudinal research suggests that declines in religiosity associated with higher education vary across religious traditions, it tells us little about variation in the effects of higher education on changes in religiosity more broadly. Higher education may promote increases in religiosity for some, particularly with many Americans now being raised in relatively secular homes. This research note uses multilevel growth curve models and four waves of longitudinal data to examine how the religious context in adolescence moderates the effects of higher education on changes in emerging adult religiosity, regardless of the direction of change. Religious tradition and parent religious service attendance assess the religious context in adolescence, and several religiosity scales and measures of religious behaviors assess dimensions of religiosity. Results show that higher education is particularly likely to lead to religious decline for mainline Protestants and those with religiously active parents, and to increases in religiosity for the religiously unaffiliated and those with parents who infrequently attend religious services. These findings demonstrate how the religious context in adolescence conditions the influence of education, thereby highlighting the variable nature of the influence of higher education on changes in religiosity.