When you recall your teenage years, you may often remember the whirlwind of emotions, the bold decisions, and sometimes the reckless actions you took. For many, these memories are a mixed bag of exciting adventures and cringe-worthy moments. This distinctive behavior, characterized by a penchant for risk-taking, isn’t just teenage rebelliousness. In fact, it’s deeply rooted in biology and neuroscience. A biology that I’ll be giving you a brief explanation of while telling you the story of how impulsivity led my best friend and I to discover a waterfall.
1. The Risky Business of the Teen Brain
The teenage brain is still developing, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions like planning, impulse control, and weighing the consequences of one’s actions. However, it isn’t fully mature until the mid-20s, causing a reliance on the amygdala—a region associated with emotions, impulses, and instinctive behavior. This neural pattern can lead to decisions fueled by emotions and immediate rewards rather than logical, long-term thinking. Recognizing this can help us understand teens’ inclination for risk and their evolving decision-making abilities.
2. The Silver Lining: Learning Through Risk
While the heightened risk-taking of the teenage years might sound alarming, there’s a developmental purpose behind it. Risks, and the consequences that follow, play a crucial role in shaping the adult brain. The outcomes of these risks—both good and bad—serve as learning experiences.
A few years ago, my best friend and I went on a hike with her family. It was a pretty familiar hike, and one that has always been a personal favorite. But this time, the two of us were mucking around, feeling a bit more adventurous than usual. We had already stuck our hands (and almost each other) in the river and toyed with the idea of trying to cross it while waiting to start the hike.
When we did start the hike however, we were buzzing with the idea of wanting to explore off the pathway. For anyone who doesn’t live in New Zealand, heading off the path can present many alarm bells. But that was half the fun – going where we shouldn’t go! We assessed the risk, and decided that this was a local hike, about 30 mins out of town and still on the main road. We don’t have any dangerous, deadly, or otherwise dubious looking animals to be worried about in New Zealand, and we had both eaten a substantial breakfast. We were fine. So we stepped off the path.
3. The Societal Perspective
From an evolutionary standpoint, the propensity for risk-taking during the teen years might have had survival benefits. Adolescents who were willing to explore unfamiliar territories, challenge bigger adversaries, or try new foods might have brought advantages to their groups in terms of resources, knowledge, or status.
While my friend and I definitely weren’t on the search for food, wild animals, or traces of an ancient civilization that had yet to be discovered, we were still buzzing with the idea of an adventure that we had no idea where it would lead. It honestly felt like we were the main characters of a generic adventure movie, who you can already tell are going to get into trouble, but the exploring was too much fun to turn back from.
In modern society, this risk-taking can be channeled into innovation, creativity, and pushing boundaries in various fields. Teens, with their unique neural wiring, often view the world without the constraints that adults do, leading to fresh perspectives and groundbreaking ideas.
4. Navigating the Risky Waters
Understanding the biology behind teen behavior can help parents, educators, and society at large approach adolescent risk-taking with empathy and insight. While it’s essential to guide teenagers and set boundaries, it’s equally important to provide them with safe environments to explore, make mistakes, and learn.
Where was the overseeing adult in our adventure? It was my friend’s amazing mom, who followed us when we eagerly returned to show her our find, after we had initially explored off-path. She congratulated us, and helped us name our newfound discovery in our indigenous language.
But more importantly, she trusted that we could handle ourselves and the situation we were putting ourselves through to get to this waterfall. Jumping from rock to rock over a river, climbing over tree trunks and through thick foliage, crossing the second part of the river, and scaling a rock twice our height to reach the top of the waterfall. She stepped back and let us figure out our actions, and the consequences that happened when an idea failed, (wet socks and scraped palms).
To wrap up
At the end of the day, the teenage brain, with its blend of impulsivity and exploration, isn’t just a phase to be endured. It’s a vital developmental stage that sets the foundation for adult decision-making. By appreciating the biological underpinnings of teen behavior, we can better support the next generation as they navigate the choppy, yet enlightening, waters of adolescence.
My friend and I were sad to leave, but vowed to return and continue our exploring. We had seen what taking risks led to, the good and bad, and were rearing to keep going. And since the discovery of Keitakerehi falls, I’m proud to say that we’ve spent the last few years doing just that.
