Adolescent resilience to addiction: a social plasticity hypothesis
Open accessAbstract
The prevalence of substance use disorders is highest during adolescence; however, many adolescents experience a natural resolution of their substance use by early adulthood, without any formal intervention. Something appears to be unique and adaptive about the adolescent brain. In this Review, we examine the roles of the social environment and neurocognitive development in adolescents' natural resilience to substance use disorders. At present, little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms that underlie this adaptive phenomenon, since neurodevelopmental studies have mainly focused on the risk side of the substance use equation: escalation of substance use. To provide a framework for future studies, we put forth a social plasticity model that includes developmentally limited enhanced social attunement (ie, the need to harmonise with the social environment), affective processing, and brain plasticity, which underlie adolescents' capacity to learn from and adapt to their constantly evolving social environments.
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There was a lack of studies investigating cognitive domains and brain-based outcomes known to play a pivotal role in the vulnerability to addiction, such as cognitive control and social cognition, and the integrity of the underlying neural networks.
“There was also a lack of studies investigating cognitive domains and brain-based outcomes known to play a pivotal role in the vulnerability to addiction, such as cognitive control (Cousijn et al., 2014) and social cognition (Cousijn et al., 2018), and the integrity of the underlying neural networks.”
From Age-dependent Effects of Tobacco Smoke and Nicotine on Cognition and the Brain: A Systematic Review of the Human and Animal Literature Comparing Adolescents and Adults. (2023) · cites this paper as Cousijn et al., 2018
The ‘Implications of adolescent brain development in the context of substance use’ section proposes that development of the social cognition network might increase adolescents’ willingness to use substances with peers. It also says little is known about the relevant neural mechanisms. Thus the paper supports social cognition as a proposed factor in vulnerability, but not as one known to play a pivotal role. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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References 80 · Cited by 119
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [28]28. Winick C. Maturing out of narcotic addiction. Bull Narc 1962; 14: 1-7.
- [68]68. Review 68
- Authors
- Cousijn, J., Luijten, M., & Feldstein Ewing, S. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Cousijn, Janna
- Venue
- The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-01
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 69-78
- ISSN
- 2352-4642 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6373770
- OpenAlex
- W2769966273
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 80
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 0.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1R01AA023658–01)
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- adolescent resilience, substance use disorders, adolescent brain development, social environment, social attunement, emotional processing, neuroplasticity, neurocognitive development
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Brain, Humans, Neuronal Plasticity, Social Behavior, Social Environment, Behavior, Addictive, Substance-Related Disorders, Adolescent Development
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