Adolescent risk-taking in the context of exploration and social influence

Simon Ciranka,Wouter Van Den Bos

doi:10.1016/j.dr.2021.100979

Simon Ciranka, Wouter Van Den Bos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2021.100979

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Abstract

Adolescents are often described as a strange and different species that behaves like no other age group, typical behaviours being excessive risk-taking and sensitivity to peer influence. Different theories of adolescent behaviour attribute this to different internal mechanisms like undeveloped cognitive control, higher sensation-seeking or extraordinary social motivation. Many agree that some of adolescent risk-taking behaviour is adaptive. Here we argue that to understand adolescent risk-taking, and why it may be adaptive, research needs to pay attention to the adolescent environments’ structure and view adolescents as learning and exploring agents in it. We identify three unique aspects of the adolescent environment: 1) the opportunities to take risks are increased significantly, 2) these opportunities are novel and their outcomes uncertain, and 3) peers become more important. Next, we illustrate how adolescent risk-taking may emerge from learning using agent-based modelling, and show that a typical inverted-U shape in risk-taking may emerge in absence of a specific adolescent motivational drive for sensation-seeking or sensitivity to social information. The simulations also show how risky exploration may be necessary for adolescents to gain long-term benefits in later developmental stages and that social learning can help reduce losses. Finally, we discuss how a renewed ecological perspective and the focus on adolescents as learning agents may shift the interpretation of current findings and inspire future studies.

Highlights

A time-honoured view of adolescence, often defined as the period between ages 10 and 21 (van Duijvenvoorde et al, 2016), is that as a period of trials and tribulations (Sturm und Drang) on the way to adulthood (Hall, 1904)
We show how exploration and learning, together with changes in the environment, can lead to outcomes that resemble developmental trajectories of risk-taking and social susceptibility observed in adolescents, without assuming developmental changes in reward or social sensitivity
By varying mean and variance of the options’ underlying distribution, we generated an environment in which exploration is risky (Sani et al, 2012), according to the definition of risk-taking: sampling a novel option can result in losses, and there is uncertainty about the outcomes (Hertwig et al, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

A time-honoured view of adolescence, often defined as the period between ages 10 and 21 (van Duijvenvoorde et al, 2016), is that as a period of trials and tribulations (Sturm und Drang) on the way to adulthood (Hall, 1904) Consistent with this view, adolescence is associated with a peak in risky behaviours such as reckless driving, crime, binge drinking, unprotected sex, and experimenting with drugs (Gullone et al, 2000; Johnston et al, 2014; Shulman et al, 2013; Steinberg et al, 2018).

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