A new study from Temple University suggests that adolescents' brains are wired in such a way that risk-taking and dangerous behaviors are unavoidable. The finding effectively undermines the multitude of educational programs that try to persuade teens not to do things like smoke, drink or do drugs.
Temple psychologist, Laurence Steinberg, outlines his arguments in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. "While it is probably not fair to say that none of the programs we have developed works, most of the educational efforts to persuade kids to not smoke or to not use drugs or alcohol, to engage in safe sex or to drive more safely have not been effective," says Steinberg. "There is a program here or there that works, but, by and large, we have spent billions of dollars on initiatives that have not really had much of an impact."
Steinberg says that recent research on adolescent brain development shows that heightened risk taking in adolescence is the result of competition between two very different brain systems - the socioemotional and cognitive-control networks - that are undergoing different rates of maturation. During adolescence, the socioemotional system becomes more assertive during puberty, while the cognitive-control system gains strength gradually over a longer period of time.
The socioemotional system allows adolescents to become more easily aroused and experience more intense emotion, and to become more sensitive to social influence. Conversely, says Steinberg, the cognitive-control system is the part of the brain that regulates behavior and makes the ultimate decisions, but it is still maturing during adolescence and into a person's mid-20s at least.
When the socioemotional network is not highly activated - for example, when individuals are not emotionally excited or are alone - the cognitive-control network is strong enough to impose regulatory control over impulsive and risky behavior, even in early adolescence. But in the presence of peers, or in situations where emotions run high, the socioemotional network becomes sufficiently activated to diminish the regulatory effectiveness of the cognitive-control network.
"The presence of peers increases risk taking substantially among teenagers," writes Steinberg in his article. "In one of our lab's studies, for instance, the presence of peers more than doubled the number of risks teenagers took in a video driving game. In adolescence, then, not only is 'more' merrier - it is also riskier. There is a window of vulnerability because their cognitive-control system is still not fully mature, it is more easily disrupted, especially when the socioemotional system is quite excited. And it gets excited by the presence of other people."
Steinberg suggests that strategies such as raising the price of cigarettes, enforcing laws governing the sale of alcohol, expanding adolescents' access to mental-health and contraceptive services, or raising the driving age would likely be more effective than education. "I don't want people to think that education should not continue," he says. "I just think that it alone is not going to make much of a difference in deterring risky behavior. Some things just take time to develop, and, like it or not, mature judgment is probably one of them."
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Source: Temple University
