The Teenage Brain: Why Adolescents Take More Risks
- MedReport Foundation
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Imagine a situation where you are a teen driving home from school by yourself, and you see a yellow light a considerable distance away from you. Some would stop and play it safe, but now imagine a situation where 4 of your friends are yelling at you to stop being a wuss and rush through that light. This type of pressure can happen, and motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States for teenagers and the fatal crash rate at night for teen drivers ages 16–19 is about three times as high as it is for adult drivers ages 30–59 (1). Now, this does not just apply to driving. Teens are often more willing to explore, take risks, and respond to rewards or peer approval. They are experiencing changes in their brain and nervous system which is the underlying cause for this.
What Changes in the Brain?
Many parts of the brain are different between teenagers and adults, as teenagers are still developing in the brain. This is why teens are more prone to dangers associated with alcohol and other drugs, and they are more vulnerable to risky health choices. The amygdala is responsible for emotional/threat processing, and develops in teens before the frontal cortex, which deals more with reasoning and judgement (2). During puberty, changes happen across the brain’s reward system, the dopaminergic system. They are more likely to seek new sensations, novelty, and have a newfound interest in exciting activities due to this (3). Studies show that teenagers develop their frontal cortex much later on in their lives, nearing early adulthood, while the area known as the ventral striatum is more responsive during adolescence while the control systems continue maturing (4). This is the main reason why adults are more likely to make logical decisions and are known to have better judgement than teenagers.
Why Peer Pressure Changes Decision Making
If you are a teenager or an adult reading this, there is a very high chance that you have experienced peer pressure some time in your life. The sensations that an environment with a high number of people brings can make it very tempting to do something that will make you stand out. A lot of people don’t know what happens in the brain, though. A study tested teen risk taking by using a simulated driving game called the Spotlight task. Participants had the choice to either stop at a yellow light or keep going and risk crashing (5). The study found that when there was an increase in peers, adolescents took more risks and decided to keep going, while adults did not show that same increase and chose to stop (5). In peer conditions, the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex activates more, and both of these are involved in reward prediction, motivation, and judging outcome values (5). Studies have also shown that activation in these areas correlate with more risk taking (5). However, a common misconception with teenage risk taking during peer pressure is that teens are dumber and have less brain activity, which is what causes them to act this way. This is not true, because peer pressure mainly affects the reward system, and not the areas in the brain responsible for cognition (5).
Why Risk Taking Can be a Double Edged Sword
Risk taking can have its benefits and downsides (6). For example, some forms of risk taking can actually be beneficial for teens, for example, trying out for a new team, or sending an email to a professor that you know may turn you down. There is never a 0 percent chance for these things, so these types of risk taking are helpful for teen’s futures. Also, in situations without high stakes, risk taking can teach important lessons as teens are gaining more independence from their parents, so they need to make more decisions on their own involving more risk or pressure (6). In conclusion, not all risks are bad, but most of the risks that people know about are the harmful ones, so it is best to keep the helpful risks while taking out the harmful risks.
References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Risk Factors for Teen Drivers. CDC. Updated August 4, 2025. Available from:
2. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Teen Brain: Behavior, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. AACAP. Available from:
https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/The Teen-Brain-Behavior-Problem-Solving-and-Decision-Making-095.aspx
3. Steinberg L. A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Adolescent Risk-Taking. Developmental Review. 2008;28(1):78-106. Available from:
4. Hartley CA, Somerville LH. The Neuroscience of Adolescent Decision-Making. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 2015;5:108-115. Available from:
5. Chein J, Albert D, O’Brien L, Uckert K, Steinberg L. Peers Increase Adolescent Risk Taking by Enhancing Activity in the Brain’s Reward Circuitry. Developmental Science. 2011;14(2):F1-F10. Available from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3075496/
6. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Current Landscape of Adolescent Risk Behavior. In: Promoting Positive Adolescent Health Behaviors and Outcomes: Thriving in the 21st Century. National Academies Press. 2019. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554988/
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