Sensation seeking and risk-taking

Adolescence is a period that embodies great potential for growth and development, and this is also a period of heightened vulnerability for risky behaviors. There are normative increases in sensation seeking and risk-taking during early adolescence, and peer associations influence the expression of sensation seeking in risk-taking. Emergent models of brain development suggest that changes in relative preferences for immediate versus long-term rewards are mediated by a socioemotional network, which undergoes extensive remodeling early in adolescence. In contrast, changes in impulse control, planning, and other higher-order cognitive functions mediated by the cognitive control system mature more gradually over a longer period of time, into early adulthood. Neurobiological changes during adolescence are likely to play an integral role in the relationship between sensation seeking and adolescent risk-taking exhibited in conduct disorder (CD). High impulsive sensation seeking, coupled with low (neurobiologically-mediated) cognitive control, increases the risk for CD, particularly given a context of affiliation with deviant peers. We describe important future directions and highlight possible intervention and policy implications.