Risky Adolescents: More Mature?

Lately in class we have been talking a little bit about adolescents. Professor Risser had mentioned that the kids who were very popular engaged in not only pro-social behaviors but also highly aggressive behaviors as well. So I thought when I got home I would look up more research on the subject and find out what other views of adolescents might be skewed. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I came across another surprising finding about adolescents. It turns out that the more risky adolescents may be more mature than their cautious peers.

A paper was published in 2009, in the August 26th edition of PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) saying that teens, between the ages of 12 and 18, who in engage in risky behavior tend to have highly developed white matter in their brains which is an indicator for maturity. However the research group's original hypothesis stated the exact opposite. Researchers from Emory University were hoping to show that less maturity led to risky behaviors.

To test their hypothesis they had students, ages 12-18 yo, fill out the Adolescent Risk Questionnaire (ARQ), which gives an idea as to how risky a person's actions are. Then they all underwent diffusion tensor imaging which measures the amount of white matter in the brain. After adjusting for changes in white matter that may be due to age it was found that there was a positive correlation between the two variables between the ages of 14 and 18.

However, we must remember that correlation does not imply causation, so the parents in the class shouldn't encourage their children to be more risky. This study does not show that risky behaviors will cause more maturity or that more mature teens tend to participate in more dangerous activities. I do feel that this study had some surprising findings though, I always felt that all of the immature kids when I was growing up tended to be a little more "dangerous," and I usually thought someone would do something stupid because they were immature. This makes me wonder how many other things we have false assumptions about, especially concerning adolescents.

Citation

1. http://www.insidermedicine.com/archives/VIDEO_Adolescents_Who_Engage_in_Risky_Behavior_Likely_Have_More_Mature_Brains_Than_Previously_Believed_3739.aspx
2. http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006773