Risk taking teens learning their world

Taking risks as a teenager is part of everyday life – challenging boundaries, testing out new ways of expressing themselves and being part of the world around them. Common scientific thought puts risk taking in adolescence down to the slow development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain which effects impulse control and decision making, making teens more prone to risky behaviours because of their developmental phase. However, University of Pennsylvania researchers have challenged the reasoning behind the theory, saying evidence from an extensive review of neuroscientific research has found the behaviours which look like teen impulsivity and risk taking on the surface are actually more likely to be behaviours expressed by teens trying to find out about their world. Click here to continue reading.