Journal of Developmental Psychology

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Reference

Joke Heylen et. al. (2015). Attachment and Effortful Control; Relationships with Maladjustment

in Early Adolescence: Journal of Early Adolescence, 37(3), 289-315

- Judgment and Decision Making in Adolescence: Journal of research on adolescence

I am going to start my summary by simply describing that adolescent decision making is a complex and multiply determined phenomenon. First, developmental research grounded in normative models of rational decision making has made significant gains in identifying the factors that influence adolescents’ choices. When we are teenagers we tend to be very impulsive. The adrenaline goes above reason. We become very vulnerable and with little self-control. In comparison with adults, according to the article, the adolescent lacks that sense of intuition that adults can have, and more in situations of elevated risk. Adolescents do not assess the risks they are exposed to when deciding, but prefer to take the consequences as hard as they may be. As a rule, adolescents are more likely than adults over 25 to binge drink, smoke cigarettes, have casual sex partners, engage in violent and other criminal behavior, and have fatal or serious automobile crashes, most which are caused by reckless driving or driving under the influence of alcohol. Because many of these behaviors appear inherently irrational when individuals understand their probable long-term consequences, it was assumed that adolescents must be less competent than adults in one or more of the elements of rational decision making. Long ago, it was believed that the decision-making process had to do only with rational aspects, but it has been proven that the psychosocial aspects also influence the decision making of a teenager.

Reference

Albert, Dustin (2011). Judgment and Decision Making in Adolescence: Journal of research on

adolescence, 21(1), 211-224. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00724.x