14 DAY TRIAL // Recent scientific investigations into the way teens behave revealed that they are much more likely to engage in negative, damaging behavior when they are in a group, than by themselves.
Unfortunately, this correlation holds true for such things as committing murder, or driving a car drunk and getting into an accident. Psychologists are currently trying to determine why is it that the company of others is so detrimental.
According to statistics, the adolescents are about 5 times more likely to do bad things when they are with other people their age than when they are alone. The new study was conducted by scientists at the Temple University, in the United States.
Expert researchers Drs. Jason Chein and Laurence Steinberg used imaging techniques to gain insight into the changes that occurred in the teen brain when study participants were accompanied by peers.
The scientists conducted two measurement sessions, one in which the participants were alone, and the other one when they were in the presence of other teens. The conclusions are published in the January issue of the esteemed scientific journal Developmental Science.
The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data the team collected showed beyond a doubt that the teen brain processes reward cues differently when the person is accompanied by peers.
In other words, the adolescents' perception of what constitutes a reward worth fighting for is heavily changed from when they are alone. “We know that in the real world, teenagers take more risks when with their friends,” the two researchers say.
“This is the first study to identify the underlying process. Preventable, risky behaviors – such as binge drinking, cigarette smoking and careless driving – present the greatest threat to the well-being of young people in industrialized societies,” Steinberg explains.
The expert is a leading international expert on teen behavior, decision making and impulse control, and also a developmental psychologist at the Temple University, PsychCentral reports.
“Our findings may be helpful in developing ways to intervene and reduce adolescent risk taking,” adds Chein, the lead author of the investigation, and also a cognitive neuroscientist at the university.
The conclusions the team derived from the new study “suggest that the presence of peers does not impact the evaluation of the risk but rather heightens sensitivity in the brain to the potential upside of a risky decision,” Chein goes on to say.
“If the presence of friends had been simply a distraction to the participant, then we would have seen an impact on the brain’s executive function. But that is not what we have found,” the expert concludes.