Adolescents who engage in risky behaviors have white matter pathways that appear more mature than those of peers who do not engage in risky or dangerous behaviors. White matter is composed of strands that connect various regions of gray matter throughout the brain. The maturation of white matter increases the brains processing speed.
For the study, psychiatrist Gregory Burns and his colleagues reviewed questionnaire responses of 91 kids, aged 12 to 18. The questionnaire asked kids about their tendency to engage in such dangerous behaviors as driving without a license, having unprotected sex and using drugs.
Participants also underwent a relatively new kind of brain scan known as diffusion tensor imaging (a type of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI) that can be used to look at white matter.
The researchers found that students with riskier behaviors consistently exhibited more sophisticated white matter. The more mature-looking the brain, the more an adolescent tended to report risk taking.
The study findings upset the popular notion that teens tend to take risks because their brains are immature. According to the study authors, "Precocious development of these [white-matter] tracts may predispose some adolescents to engage in behaviors that society considers too adult in nature for their chronological age."
(Source: www.time.com)
Labels: reckless teens, brain fucntion
Posted By: Aspen Education Group