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Chou CP. Parental Psychological Control and Risk-Taking among Taiwanese Adolescents and Emerging Adults: Benefit Perception as a Mediator. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2024; 21:1207. [PMID: 39338090 PMCID: PMC11431262 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph21091207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2024] [Revised: 08/23/2024] [Accepted: 09/09/2024] [Indexed: 09/30/2024]
Abstract
Youth risk-taking behaviors present important public health concerns due to their prevalence and potential adverse consequences, underscoring the need for research and prevention strategies to promote youth's healthy development. The present research examined the relationship between parental psychological control and risk-taking behaviors via benefit perception among high school and college students in Taiwan. Using a cross-sectional design, the study surveyed 378 participants to assess maternal and paternal psychological control, benefit perception, and engagement in risk-taking behaviors. Results indicated no significant difference in psychological control or benefit perception between high school and college students. However, college students reported higher levels of risk-taking behaviors, such as risky driving, alcohol use, and unprotected sex. Both maternal and paternal psychological control positively correlated with benefit perception and risk-taking behaviors. Furthermore, benefit perception mediated the relationship between psychological control and risk-taking behavior among high school and college students. These findings suggested that parental psychological control indirectly influenced youth risk-taking by shaping their perceptions of the benefits of such behaviors. The study highlights the importance of promoting autonomy-supportive parenting to reduce risk-taking behaviors and advocates for programs that enhance decision-making skills among adolescents and emerging adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine P Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
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Reyna VF, Müller SM, Edelson SM. Critical tests of fuzzy trace theory in brain and behavior: uncertainty across time, probability, and development. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:746-772. [PMID: 36828988 PMCID: PMC9957613 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01058-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/26/2023]
Abstract
Uncertainty permeates decisions from the trivial to the profound. Integrating brain and behavioral evidence, we discuss how probabilistic (varied outcomes) and temporal (delayed outcomes) uncertainty differ across age and individuals; how critical tests adjudicate between theories of uncertainty (prospect theory and fuzzy-trace theory); and how these mechanisms might be represented in the brain. The same categorical gist representations of gains and losses account for choices and eye-tracking data in both value-allocation (add money to gambles) and risky-choice tasks, disconfirming prospect theory and confirming predictions of fuzzy-trace theory. The analysis is extended to delay discounting and disambiguated choices, explaining hidden-zero effects that similarly turn on categorical distinctions between some gain and no gain, certain gain and uncertain gain, gain and loss, and now and later. Bold activation implicates dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices in gist strategies that are not just one tool in a grab-bag of cognitive options but rather are general strategies that systematically predict behaviors across many different tasks involving probabilistic and temporal uncertainty. High valuation (e.g., ventral striatum; ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and low executive control (e.g., lateral prefrontal cortex) contribute to risky and impatient choices, especially in youth. However, valuation in ventral striatum supports reward-maximizing and gist strategies in adulthood. Indeed, processing becomes less "rational" in the sense of maximizing gains and more noncompensatory (eye movements indicate fewer tradeoffs) as development progresses from adolescence to adulthood, as predicted. Implications for theoretically predicted "public-health paradoxes" are discussed, including gist versus verbatim thinking in drug experimentation and addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Silke M. Müller
- Department General Psychology: Cognition, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
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França TFA, Pompeia S. Reappraising the role of dopamine in adolescent risk-taking behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 147:105085. [PMID: 36773751 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Adolescence is characterized by increased risk-taking, which is often ascribed to developmental changes in dopaminergic signaling. Popular models propose that these behaviors are caused by dopamine-induced hypersensitivity to rewards, which overrides adolescents' immature self-control mechanisms. However, these models are often based on oversimplified notions about the workings and functions of dopamine. Here we discuss the relationship between changes in the dopaminergic system and adolescent behavior in light of current theories/models about the functions of dopamine. We show that dopamine is linked to learning, adaptive decision-making under uncertainty, and increased motivation to work for rewards. Thus, changes in the dopaminergic system contribute to the maturation of cognitive control through various mechanisms, contrary to the false dichotomy between reward processing and self-control. Finally, we note that dopamine interacts with a number of other neuromodulator systems, which also change during adolescence, but that have been largely ignored in the field of adolescent development. A full understanding of adolescent behavior will require these neurochemicals and their interactions with dopamine to be taken into account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago F A França
- Universidade Federal de São Paulo. Escola Paulista de Medicina. Departamento de Psicobiologia. São Paulo - SP, Brasil
| | - Sabine Pompeia
- Universidade Federal de São Paulo. Escola Paulista de Medicina. Departamento de Psicobiologia. São Paulo - SP, Brasil.
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Buchanan CM, Zietz S, Lansford JE, Skinner AT, Di Giunta L, Dodge KA, Gurdal S, Liu Q, Long Q, Oburu P, Pastorelli C, Sorbring E, Steinberg L, Tapanya S, Uribe Tirado LM, Yotanyamaneewong S, Alampay LP, Al-Hassan S, Bacchini D, Bornstein MH, Chang L, Deater-Deckard K. Typicality and trajectories of problematic and positive behaviors over adolescence in eight countries. Front Psychol 2023; 13:991727. [PMID: 36817375 PMCID: PMC9930608 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.991727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we examine the predictions of a storm and stress characterization of adolescence concerning typicality and trajectories of internalizing, externalizing, and wellbeing from late childhood through late adolescence. Using data from the Parenting Across Cultures study, levels and trajectories of these characteristics were analyzed for 1,211 adolescents from 11 cultural groups across eight countries. Data were longitudinal, collected at seven timepoints from 8 to 17 years of age. Results provide more support for a storm and stress characterization with respect to the developmental trajectories of behavior and characteristics from childhood to adolescence or across the adolescent years than with respect to typicality of behavior. Overall, adolescents' behavior was more positive than negative in all cultural groups across childhood and adolescence. There was cultural variability in both prevalence and trajectories of behavior. The data provide support for arguments that a more positive and nuanced characterization of adolescence is appropriate and important.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christy M. Buchanan
- Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Susannah Zietz
- Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
| | | | - Ann T. Skinner
- Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Laura Di Giunta
- Department of Psychology, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
| | - Kenneth A. Dodge
- Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Sevtap Gurdal
- Centre for Child and Youth Studies, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
| | - Qin Liu
- Department of Maternal and Child Health and Adolescent Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Qian Long
- Global Health, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China
| | - Paul Oburu
- Department of Educational Psychology, Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya
| | | | - Emma Sorbring
- Centre for Child and Youth Studies, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden
| | - Laurence Steinberg
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Psychology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sombat Tapanya
- Department of Psychiatry, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | | | | | - Liane P. Alampay
- Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines
| | | | - Dario Bacchini
- Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
| | - Marc H. Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD, United States
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York, NY, United States
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lei Chang
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Taipa, China
| | - Kirby Deater-Deckard
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, United States
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Defoe IN, Rap SE, Romer D. Adolescents' own views on their risk behaviors, and the potential effects of being labeled as risk-takers: A commentary and review. Front Psychol 2022; 13:945775. [PMID: 36467170 PMCID: PMC9714301 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.945775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Adolescents are stereotypically viewed as risk-takers ("stereotypical risk-takers") in science, mainstream media, fictional literature and in everyday life. However, increasing research suggests that adolescents do not always engage in "heightened" risk-taking, and adolescents' own perspectives (motives) on risk-taking are largely neglected in research. Hence, this paper is a commentary and review with two aims. First, taking a cross-national perspective, we discuss the definition of adolescence and risk behavior. We argue that much of the research on what drives adolescent risk behavior (e.g., substance use) focuses on the harms that this behavior promotes rather than on the need to explore and grow into adulthood. Thereafter we summarize the dominant approach to studying motives behind substance use, which has mostly considered young adults, and which has typically not focused on adolescents' own self-generated motives. The few empirical studies (including one of our qualitative studies) on adolescents' own motivations for engaging in risk behavior (i.e., cannabis use, alcohol use, and tobacco smoking) show that the most frequently mentioned motives by adolescents were being cool/tough, enjoyment, belonging, having fun and experimenting and coping. Interestingly, the "cool/tough identity" motive is virtually overlooked in research on adolescent risk-taking. The above-mentioned motives, however, generally support newer theories, such as the Developmental Neuro-Ecological Risk-taking Model (DNERM) and the Life-span Wisdom Model that suggest that adolescents' motivations to engage in risk-taking include experimentation, identity development, explorative behavior, and sensation seeking, all of which run counter to the stereotype of adolescents engaging in risk-taking due to "storm and stress." Hence, we also briefly consider additional recent attempts to study positive forms of risk taking. Second, extrapolating from sociological/criminological theories on labeling, we suggest that caution is warranted when (inaccurately) labeling adolescents as the "stereotypical risk-takers," because this can instigate a risk-taking identity in adolescents and/or motivate them to associate with risk-taking peers, which could in turn lead to maladaptive forms of risk-taking. Empirical research testing these hypotheses is needed. To conclude we argue that research on adolescent risk-taking could further benefit from considering adolescent's own motivations, which is also in line with the participatory approach advocated by international children's rights standards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivy N. Defoe
- Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Stephanie E. Rap
- Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Daniel Romer
- Annenberg Public Policy Center, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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