Multiple pathways of risk taking in adolescence

Eveline A. Crone*, Anna C.K. van Duijvenvoorde

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)
364 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this review, we describe multiple pathways that may lead to risk-taking in adolescence. We review behavioral and neuroimaging studies showing heightened risk-taking tendencies and associated neural reward activity in mid to late adolescence, but evidence points to risk taking as highly context and sample dependent. Here, we suggest that individual differences, specifically reward drive, may be a differential susceptibility factor that shows heightened sensitivity in adolescents and that makes some adolescents more sensitive to their environment. Furthermore, we review evidence that an elevated reward drive in mid-adolescence in interaction with prosocial and cognitive development can lead to various trajectories of risk taking. In this review we propose to extend existing models with individual-difference factors, specifically reward drive, and accompanying developmental processes, including cognitive control and prosocial development, that drive the development of multiple pathways of risk taking.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100996
JournalDevelopmental Review
Volume62
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ACKvD is supported by an Open Research Area (ORA) Grant [Grant Number 464-15-176 ] financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Social Resilience and Security Program ( Leiden University ).

Funding Information:
E.A.C. is supported by an ‘innovative ideas’ grant of the European Research Council (ERC CoG PROSOCIAL 681632 to E.A.C.).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)

Research programs

  • ESSB PSY

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Multiple pathways of risk taking in adolescence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this