3-067 - Current State of Affairs on Adolescent Risk-taking Research

Session Type: Roundtable

Integrative Statement

Heightened adolescent risk-taking is a topic of strong current scientific interest and paramount policy- and clinical- relevance. However, the commonly held notion that heightened risk-taking is a unique feature of adolescence is currently under scrutiny. Recent accumulating studies on heightened adolescent risk-taking under controlled experimental settings show mixed findings, and some scholars view emerging adulthood as also a period of heightened risk-taking. Additionally, a recent Psychological Bulletin meta-analysis (Defoe, Dubas, Figner, & van Aken, 2015) concluded that whereas adolescents take more risks than adults, children and adolescents generally take equal levels of risks on experimental risky decision-making tasks. Thus, the following pertinent questions arise: compared to whom do adolescents take more risks and under which circumstances is heightened adolescent risk-taking more likely to occur? These questions challenge scientists to think more critically about what adolescent risk-taking really entails, and what factors are most important in order to predict or prevent risk-taking behaviors. Accordingly, these topics and more will be addressed in the current roundtable discussion that brings together four influential scientists from the USA and Europe (Drs. Jeffrey Arnett, Eveline Crone, Valerie Reyna, and Laurence Steinberg) who research adolescent risk-taking, from a wide variety of domains of development (e.g., biological, cognitive, affective, neurodevelopmental, social/environmental) using survey (cross-sectional and longitudinal) as well as experimental methodology. This complete expert panel promises to contribute to an engaging and enlightening all-around discussion on what we know, and what we still need to know in order to advance the field of research on adolescent risk-taking.

Sub Unit

• Health Risk Behaviors

Organizer

• Ivy Defoe, Utrecht University

Moderator

• Judith Dubas, Utrecht University

Panelists

• Jeffrey Arnett, Clark University

• Eveline Crone, Leiden University

• Valerie Reyna, Cornell University

• Laurence Steinberg, Temple University