Greater response variability in adolescents is associated with increased white matter development.

Adolescence is a period of learning, exploration, and continuous adaptation to fluctuating environments. Response variability during adolescence is an important, understudied, and developmentally appropriate behavior. The purpose of this study was to identify the association between performance on a dynamic risky decision making task and white matter microstructure in a sample of 48 adolescents (14-16 years). Individuals with the greatest response variability on the task obtained the widest range of experience with potential outcomes to risky choice. When compared with their more behaviorally consistent peers, adolescents with greater response variability rated real-world examples of risk taking behaviors as less risky via self-report. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) were used to examine fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). Greater FA in long-range, late-maturing tracts was associated with higher response variability. Greater FA and lower MD were associated with lower riskiness ratings of real-world risky behaviors. Results suggest that response variability and lower perceived risk attitudes of real-world risk are supported by neural maturation in adolescents

#Sleepyteens: social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem

This study examined how social media use related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 Scottish adolescents. We measured overall social media use, nighttime-specific social media use, emotional investment in social media, sleep quality, self-esteem and levels of anxiety and depression. Adolescents who used social media more – both overall and at night – and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Nighttime-specific social media use predicted poorer sleep quality after controlling for anxiety, depression and self-esteem. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that social media use is related to various aspects of wellbeing in adolescents. In addition, our results indicate that nighttime-specific social media use and emotional investment in social media are two important factors that merit further investigation in relation to adolescent sleep and wellbeing

Longitudinal Changes in the Value and Influence of Parent and Peer Attitudes About Externalizing Behaviors Across Adolescence

This preregistered, longitudinal study examined how much adolescents value and integrate their parents' and peers' attitudes into their own attitudes from early to middle adolescence. Across three waves, participants (N = 172, 91 female, 11-16 years across three waves; 439 data points) decided whether to pay money to learn their parents' or peers' attitudes about externalizing behaviors. Multivariate growth models revealed that adolescents were consistently willing to pay money over time to learn their parents' and peers' attitudes. The value of learning peers'-but not parents'-attitudes predicted changes in personal attitudes during adolescence, and this did not change across age. Moreover, the effect of others' attitude value on social influence weakened from early to middle adolescence, such that early adolescents who highly valued learning the attitudes of others (i.e., paid more) tended to shift their own attitudes more toward those endorsing positive influence, regardless of the source. In contrast, early adolescents who valued learning others' attitudes less were less susceptible to positive social influence. Importantly, this effect went away in middle adolescence. Although adolescents are highly motivated to learn their parents' and peers' attitudes about externalizing behaviors, how much those attitudes inform their personal attitudes depends on the source of input and the age of adolescents.learning the attitudes of others (i.e., paid more) tended to shift their own attitudes more toward those endorsing positive influence, regardless of the source. In contrast, early adolescents who valued learning others' attitudes less were less susceptible to positive social influence. Importantly, this effectwent away inmiddle adolescence.Although adolescents are highly motivated to learn their parents' and peers' attitudes about externalizing behaviors, how much those attitudes inform their personal attitudes depends on the source of input and the age of adolescent

Neural mechanisms of social influence in adolescence

During the transformative period of adolescence, social influence plays a prominent role in shaping young people’s emerging social identities, and can impact their propensity to engage in prosocial or risky behaviors. In this study, we examine the neural correlates of social influence from both parents and peers, two important sources of influence. Nineteen adolescents (age 16–18 years) completed a social influence task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Social influence from both sources evoked activity in brain regions implicated in mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex, left temporoparietal junction, right temporoparietal junction), reward (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), and self-control (right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). These results suggest that mental state reasoning, social reward and self-control processes may help adolescents to evaluate others’ perspectives and overcome the prepotent force of their own antecedent attitudes to shift their attitudes toward those of others. Findings suggest common neural networks involved in social influence from both parents and peers

Adaptive Adolescent Flexibility: Neurodevelopment of Decision-making and Learning in a Risky Context

Research on adolescence has largely focused on the particular biological and neural changes that place teens at risk for negative outcomes linked to increases in sensation-seeking and risky behavior. However, there is a growing interest in the adaptive function of adolescence, with work highlighting the dual nature of adolescence as a period of potential risk and opportunity. We examined how behavioral and neural sensitivity to risk and reward varies as a function of age using the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Seventy-seven children and adolescents (ages 8–17 years) completed the Balloon Analog Risk Task during an fMRI session. Results indicate that adolescents show greater learning throughout the task. Furthermore, older participants showed increased neural responses to reward in the OFC and ventral striatum, increased activation to risk in the mid-cingulate cortex, as well as increased functional OFC–medial PFC coupling in both risk and reward contexts. Age-related changes in regional activity and interregional connectivity explain the link between age and increases in flexible learning. These results support the idea that adolescents’ sensitivity to risk and reward supports adaptive learning and behavioral approaches for reward acquisition

Failure to retreat: Blunted sensitivity to negative feedback supports risky behavior in adolescents

Decision-making processes rarely occur in isolation. Rather, representations are updated constantly based on feedback to past decisions and actions. However, previous research has focused on the reaction to feedback receipt itself, instead of examining how feedback information is integrated into future decisions. In the current study, we examined differential neural sensitivity during risk decisions following positive versus negative feedback in a risk-taking context, and how this differential sensitivity is linked to adolescent risk behavior. Fifty-eight adolescents (ages 13–17 years) completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) during an fMRI session and reported on their levels of risk-taking behavior. Results show that reduced medial PFC (mPFC) response following negative versus positive feedback is associated with fewer reductions in task-based risky decisions following negative feedback, as well as increased self-reported risk-taking behavior. These results suggest that reduced neural integration of negative feedback into during future decisions supports risky behavior, perhaps by discounting negative relative to positive feedback information when making subsequent risky decisions

Understanding prosocial development in the context of systemic inequalities in the US and worldwide

Across psychology, there is increasing recognition that the experiences of children from minoritized racial and ethnic groups are underrepresented. Research on prosocial behavior exemplifies this systemic bias. This paper suggests that measures of prosocial behavior should be revised to be more culturally equitable, in order to reflect the experiences of youth across diverse communities. First, the authors briefly review literature on prosocial development in high-income countries. The authors advocate for revising measures to capture greater variability in the experiences of children from marginalized groups, and interpreting research findings in the context of systemic inequalities. Next, the authors review research on prosocial behavior in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which is limited but growing, and discuss next steps for future research on prosocial behavior in LMICs. The goal is to provide a specific research agenda to advance the understanding of prosocial development across contexts and communities worldwide

Modernizing Conceptions of Valuation and Cognitive-Control Deployment in Adolescent Risk Taking

Heightened risk taking in adolescence has long been attributed to valuation systems overwhelming the deployment of cognitive control. However, this explanation of why adolescents engage in risk taking is insufficient given increasing evidence that risk-taking behavior can be strategic and involve elevated cognitive control. We argue that applying the expected-value-of-control computational model to adolescent risk taking can clarify under what conditions control is elevated or diminished during risky decision-making. Through this lens, we review research examining when adolescent risk taking might be due to—rather than a failure of—effective cognitive control and suggest compelling ways to test such hypotheses. This effort can resolve when risk taking arises from an immaturity of the control system itself, as opposed to arising from differences in what adolescents value relative to adults. It can also identify promising avenues for channeling cognitive control toward adaptive outcomes in adolescence

Exploring Culturally Based Intrafamilial Stressors among Latino Adolescents

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109621/1/fare12095.pd

Mother still knows best: Maternal influence uniquely modulates adolescent reward sensitivity during risk taking

Adolescent decision-making is highly sensitive to input from the social environment. In particular, adult and maternal presence influence adolescents to make safer decisions when encountered with risky scenarios. However, it is currently unknown whether maternal presence confers a greater advantage than mere adult presence in buffering adolescent risk taking. In the current study, 23 adolescents completed a risk-taking task during an fMRI scan in the presence of their mother and an unknown adult. Results reveal that maternal presence elicits greater activation in reward-related neural circuits when making safe decisions but decreased activation following risky choices. Moreover, adolescents evidenced a more immature neural phenotype when making risky choices in the presence of an adult compared to mother, as evidenced by positive functional coupling between the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex. Our results underscore the importance of maternal stimuli in bolstering adolescent decision-making in risky scenarios