3 - Adolescent Risk Taking: A Social Neuroscience Perspective

Summary

It is widely agreed among experts in the study of adolescent health and development that the greatest threats to the well-being of young people in industrialized societies come from preventable and often self-inflicted causes, including automobile and other accidents (which together account for nearly half of all fatalities among U.S. youth), violence, drug and alcohol use, and sexual risk taking (Ozer & Irwin, 2009). Although considerable progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of disease and chronic illness among this age group, similar gains have not been made with respect to reducing the morbidity and mortality that result from risky and reckless behavior (Hein, 1988). Whereas rates of certain types of adolescent risk taking, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or having unprotected sex, have dropped over time, the prevalence of risky behavior among teenagers remains high, and there has been no decline in adolescents’ risk behavior in several years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006).

It is also noteworthy that adolescents engage in more risky behavior than adults, although the magnitude of age differences in risk taking varies as a function of the specific risk in question and the age of the “adolescents” and “adults” used as comparison groups; rates of risk taking are high among eighteen- to twenty-one-year-olds, for instance, some of whom may be classified as adolescents and some who may be classified as adults. Nonetheless, as a general rule, adolescents and young adults are more likely than adults older than twenty-five to binge-drink, smoke cigarettes, have casual sex partners, engage in violent and other criminal behavior, and have fatal or serious automobile accidents, the majority of which are caused by reckless driving or driving under the influence of alcohol. Because many forms of risk behavior initiated in adolescence elevate the risk for the behavior in adulthood (e.g., drug use), and because some forms of risk taking by adolescents put individuals of other ages at risk (e.g., reckless driving, criminal behavior), public health experts agree that reducing the rate of risk taking by young people would make a substantial improvement in the overall well-being of the population (Steinberg, 2004).