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Frontostriatal Maturation Predicts Cognitive Control Failure to Appetitive Cues in Adolescents
Research suggests adolescent risk-taking is linked to an imbalance in brain development. Brain regions seeking rewards mature faster than those controlling impulses, leading to heightened risk behaviors.
Peers Increase Adolescent Risk Taking by Enhancing Activity in the Brain’s Reward Circuitry
Teenagers take more risks than adults, especially when friends are present. This behavior likely stems from two brain systems developing at different rates during adolescence.
Adolescent Brain Development and Drugs
Adolescent brains are still developing, especially the parts for logical reasoning and impulse control. This makes young people more prone to risk-taking and vulnerable to drug use, particularly in emotional or peer-influenced situations.
Braking and Accelerating of the Adolescent Brain
Adolescents act more impulsively and engage in riskier behavior than adults. This behavior stems from an imbalance in brain development, where emotion-driven regions mature faster than areas responsible for self-control.
Early Health Risk Factors for Violence: Conceptualization, Evidence, and Implications
Research on violence and aggression has overlooked early childhood health factors, especially prenatal ones. Current theories often miss integrating social, biological, and health risk factors in understanding how these behaviors develop.
Juvenile Justice in the US: Facts for Policymakers
Adolescent brains are still developing, impacting decision-making and increasing risk-taking. Incarceration in traditional facilities harms many nonviolent youth and fails to provide needed services, contributing to re-arrests.
Maturation of Limbic Corticostriatal Activation and Connectivity Associated with Developmental Changes in Temporal Discounting
The article examines how foresighted adaptive behavior and self-control develop through adolescence. It notes that impulsivity and risk-taking are common in this period, and it explores how the brain matures to affect these behaviors.
'Willpower' Over the Life Span: Decomposing Self-Regulation
Early "marshmallow test" studies found that children's ability to delay gratification predicted better outcomes in adulthood, including higher SAT scores and coping skills. The research now examines the biological basis of self-regulation.
Adolescent decision making: Reduced culpability in the criminal justice system and recognition of capability in other legal contexts
This article argues for increased adolescent autonomy in medical decisions, while simultaneously advocating for reduced criminal culpability for teenagers. Different legal approaches are justified by these varying contexts.
Adolescent Brain Development and the Risk for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems
During adolescence, the brain undergoes significant changes, including the growth of areas linked to complex thinking and emotions. These developmental changes also make the adolescent brain more vulnerable to environmental influences.
Adolescent Development of the Reward System
Adolescents exhibit increased reward-seeking behavior due to changes in the brain's reward system. The striatum, a dopamine-rich area, becomes more sensitive to rewards during this developmental period.
Can Adolescents Learn Self-control? Delay of Gratification in the Development of Control over Risk Taking
This article explores whether the ability to delay gratification can control risky adolescent behaviors, even in highly sensation-seeking individuals. It also investigates if experiencing risky behavior can improve self-control.
People v. Mendez
A court found an 84-year-to-life sentence for a juvenile convicted of non-homicide crimes to be cruel and unusual punishment, violating both state and federal law. The sentence effectively denied parole until well past his life expectancy.
Brief of Juvenile Law Center, the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, et. al., as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant/Respondent
This case argues New Mexico's process for sentencing juveniles as adults is unconstitutional. It claims judges, not juries, decide if a child receives an adult sentence, violating the right to a jury trial.
Brief of the Center for Children's Advocacy and Juvenile Law Center in Support of Defendant B.B.
This brief argues that Connecticut's youthful offender statute is unconstitutional. It claims the law improperly gives prosecutors too much power to decide if young people are tried as adults, denying due process.