Teenager and more risky behavior
This new research will give us more idea why teenager takes more risk in their life.
In the latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, which is focusing on understanding the teenage brain, Laurence Steinberg and Jason Chein of Temple University and Dustin Albert of Duke University believe that risky behavior in some teenagers reflects the unique effect of peer pressure on the still-developing teenage brain. As children enter their teens, they spend more and more time with their peers. The feedback they get from friends and colleagues at school might tune their brain's reward system to be more sensitive to the reward value of risky pursuits. This sensitivity may drive teenagers to concentrate on the short-term benefits of making risky choices over the safer, long-term alternatives. The cognitive control system in our brains, which helps "put the brakes" on risky behavior, takes longer to mature.
The authors wrote, “If adolescents made all of their decisions involving drinking, driving, dalliances, and delinquency in the cool isolation of an experimenter's testing room, those decisions would likely be as risk averse as those of adults.
But therein lies the rub, Teenagers spend a remarkable amount of time in the company of other teenagers.
The authors explain that a new wave of research at a point where behavior and neuroscience overlap suggests that peer pressure and conformity fundamentally changes the calculus of teen risk taking. In a previous study published in 2009, Steinberg and team discovered that 14-year-olds were much greater risk takers in a driving simulation game when they were tested in the presence of their peers, compared to the same test without their peers around. While a 14-year old takes twice as many risk in the presence of peers, older adolescents were found to take 50% more risks. More recently, Steinberg and colleagues showed that adults do not take more risks when observed by their peers, but teenagers do. The teenagers also had more activity in the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex regions of the brain, which are involved in evaluating rewards. Research appears to show that when adolescents are with their peers, their risky decision-making tendencies are heightened because of a change in the way their brains process rewards.
Randall W. Engle, professor of psychology at Georgia Tech and editor of Current Directions in Psychological Science, said, the phrase 'What were you thinking?' is known to every parent of a teenager. And yet, psychological research has historically neglected teenagers, focusing instead on children or adults. New techniques available today for studying the brain and its development allow scientists to have a deeper understanding of how teenagers think and behave, the authors explained.
B.J. Casey, guest editor of the special issue and Director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, wrote "The articles in this special issue on the teen brain provide the latest findings from human imaging and animal studies on topics that range from self-control to peer influence to policy. Instead of portraying the teenage brain as somehow 'defective' "the contributors paint a picture of a brain that is sculpted by both biological and experiential factors to adapt to the unique social, physical, sexual and intellectual challenges of adolescence," Casey added. In a previous study carried out at the University of Vermont, researchers explained why the teenage brain is more wired for drug abuse.
(Source-Current Directions in Psychological Science)
How to Control risky behavior?
We can follow a few simple guidelines that will make teens less likely to engage in risky behavior such as drinking, smoking, having unprotected sex, or having sex before they’re ready.
Knowing where teens are, not allowing them to spend too much unsupervised time with other teens, and knowing who they’re spending time with can limit teens’ likelihood of engaging in risky behavior.
We need to establish clear expectations with our teens and check in regularly to be sure those expectations are met.
As parents, we expect to keep a close eye on our infants and young children to care for them and keep them safe. As our children grow into teenagers, they gain a great deal of independence. That is a normal part of growing up. So, it’s easy for us to believe that there is less need to pay close attention to our teens. But in order to keep them healthy, we must still keep close tabs on them, set rules, and help them learn how to protect themselves. As they grow, our teens are increasingly likely to encounter opportunities for potentially risky situations. For this reason, we need to stay involved and actively check in with them.
Best Thing is setting boundaries
Knowing where our teens are, who they are with, and setting boundaries for their behavior are important parts of helping our teens stay healthy — especially when it comes to sex. Sometimes people refer to this part of parenting as monitoring and supervision. Monitoring means knowing where our children are, who they’re with, and whether or not there is an adult present. Supervision means setting clear boundaries and expectations and getting our teens to agree to them. It also means following through consistently with agreed upon and “fair” consequences when rules and expectations are not met.
Most parents monitor and supervise children less as they grow older. While it’s important to support our teens’ need for independence, monitoring and supervision continue to be important as our kids age — especially because risks such as pregnancy and STDs increase with age.
If we do not monitor our teens and set clear expectations for behavior, they are more likely to drink, smoke, and have sex before they are ready.
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