The teen years are the time in life when people are most probable to drive fast, have unprotected sex and experiment with alcohol and drugs, and a new study suggests they do these things because they enjoy the thrill.



"The reason that teenagers take risks is not a problem with foreseeing the penalty. It was more because they chose to take those risks," Stephanie Burnett, of the University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, explained in a university news make public.

In the study, Burnett and colleagues asked 86 males aged 9 to 35 to play a computer having a bet game. The players had choices between risky and secure options.
The findings, published March 24 in the journal Cognitive Development, found that teens -- especially 14-year-olds -- were the most likely to choose unsafe options.

"This is the first facts from a lab-based study that adolescents are risk-takers. We are one step forward in determining why teenagers appoint in extremely risky behaviors such as drug use and unsafe sex," Burnett said. "The onset of adolescence marks an blast in 'risky' activities --from dangerous driving, unsafe sex and experimentation with alcohol, to poor dietary habits and physical inactivity. This contributes to the so-called 'health paradox' of adolescence, whereby a peak in lifetime physical health is paradoxically accompanied by towering mortality and morbidity."

Labels: Teen Health News