Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self-report: Evidence for a dual systems model.
Abstract
It has been hypothesized that sensation seeking and impulsivity, which are often conflated, in fact develop along different timetables and have different neural underpinnings, and that the difference in their timetables helps account for heightened risk taking during adolescence. In order to test these propositions, the authors examined age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 935 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30, using self-report and behavioral measures of each construct. Consistent with the authors' predictions, age differences in sensation seeking, which are linked to pubertal maturation, follow a curvilinear pattern, with sensation seeking increasing between 10 and 15 and declining or remaining stable thereafter. In contrast, age differences in impulsivity, which are unrelated to puberty, follow a linear pattern, with impulsivity declining steadily from age 10 on. Heightened vulnerability to risk taking in middle adolescence may be due to the combination of relatively higher inclinations to seek excitement and relatively immature capacities for self-control that are typical of this period of development.
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The correlation between self-reported pubertal development and sensation seeking may be stronger for boys than for girls.
“Newer studies have replicated this result (Castellanos-Ryan et al., 2013, Gunn and Smith, 2010, Quevedo et al., 2009, Urošević et al., 2014) and have found evidence that the correlation between self-reported pubertal development and sensation seeking may be stronger for boys than for girls (Castellanos-Ryan et al., 2013, Steinberg et al., 2008).”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
By the early-to-mid 20s the frequency of impulsive behavior appears to stabilize at levels much lower than those exhibited by adolescents.
“Although adults sometimes engage in impulsive acts, by the early-to-mid 20s the frequency of impulsive behavior appears to stabilize at levels much lower than those exhibited by adolescents (Steinberg et al., 2008, Quinn and Harden, 2013).”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
This maturation is thought to support improvements in executive abilities such as response inhibition, strategic planning, impulse regulation, and flexible rule use.
“This maturation is thought to support improvements in executive abilities such as response inhibition (Luna et al., 2010), strategic planning (Luciana, Collins, Olson & Schissel, 2009), impulse regulation (Steinberg et al., 2008), and flexible rule use (Crone, Donohue, Honomichl, Wendelken & Bunge, 2006).”
From Peers increase adolescent risk taking by enhancing activity in the brain’s reward circuitry (2011) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
Similar results have been reported for impulsivity and sensation-seeking which also followed separable developmental trajectories.
“Similar results have been reported for impulsivity and sensation-seeking which also followed separable developmental trajectories (Steinberg et al., 2008).”
From Longitudinal Changes in Adolescent Risk-Taking: A Comprehensive Study of Neural Responses to Rewards, Pubertal Development, and Risk-Taking Behavior (2015) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
This pattern resembles observations from two earlier studies examining risk-taking in the laboratory, self-reported sensation-seeking, and real-life risk-taking behavior.
“This pattern resembles observations from two earlier studies examining risk-taking in the laboratory (Figner et al., 2009;Burnett et al., 2010), but also with trajectories of selfreported sensation-seeking (Steinberg et al., 2008;Shulman et al., 2015) and reallife risk-taking behavior (Eaton et al., 2012).”
From Longitudinal Changes in Adolescent Risk-Taking: A Comprehensive Study of Neural Responses to Rewards, Pubertal Development, and Risk-Taking Behavior (2015) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
Steinberg and colleagues (2008) found that self-reported and behavioral self-regulation was correlated with age but not pubertal status.
“In the most comprehensive test of the relationship between self-regulation, and pubertal status Steinberg and colleagues (2008) found that self-reported and behavioral self-regulation was correlated with age but not pubertal status.”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
Pubertal status was more closely tied to sensation seeking.
“Instead, pubertal status was more closely tied to sensation seeking.”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
Studies examining age differences in self-reported impulsivity-both cross-sectional and longitudinal-find that impulsivity decreases with age across the second decade of life.
“To date, studies examining age differences in self-reported impulsivity—both cross-sectional (Leshem and Glicksohn, 2007, Steinberg et al., 2008) and longitudinal (Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011)—find that impulsivity decreases with age across the second decade of life.”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
Constructs reflecting the functional status of the socioemotional and cognitive control systems, like sensation seeking and impulsivity, tend to be highly correlated despite being theoretically and empirically separable.
“constructs reflecting the functional status of the socioemotional and cognitive control systems, like sensation seeking and impulsivity, tend to be highly correlated (e.g., Shulman and Cauffman, 2014, Steinberg et al., 2008), despite being theoretically and empirically separable (Duckworth and Kern, 2011, Duckworth and Steinberg, 2015).”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
The behavioral trend of improving response inhibition generally coincides with linear increases in focal recruitment of lateral prefrontal cortex across development.
“and, though the evidence is a bit mixed, this behavioral trend is generally found to coincide with linear increases in the focal recruitment of the IPFC across this developmental period [73–80, though see also 81–84].”
From The role of the anterior insula in adolescent decision making (2014) · cites this paper as [82]
Measures of exploration and novelty seeking in both humans and rodents increase during adolescence.
“Measures of exploration and novelty seeking in both humans and rodents increase during adolescence (Spear, 2004; Steinberg et al., 2008).”
From Does puberty mark a transition in sensitive periods for plasticity in the associative neocortex? (2017) · cites this paper as Steinberg et al., 2008
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Self-citationPuberty and adolescent sexuality
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Does puberty mark a transition in sensitive periods for plasticity in the associative neocortex?
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Reward-related brain function and sleep in pre/early pubertal and mid/late pubertal adolescents
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“…factors on the performance and sensitivity to reward of children with ADHD should also be investigated; for example, there are reasons to expect a different (larger) response to reward in adolescence than in adulthood (Steinberg et al. 2008; but see also Scheres et al. 2007; Ströhle et al. 2008).”
Adolescents’ heightened risk-seeking in a probabilistic gambling task
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Impulsivity: Four Ways Five Factors are Not Basic to Addiction
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Effects of anonymous peer observation on adolescents’ preference for immediate rewards
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Response inhibition and its relation to multidimensional impulsivity
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The role of the anterior insula in adolescent decision making
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Teens impulsively react rather than retreat from threat
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Behavioral and neural correlates of loss aversion and risk avoidance in adolescents and adults
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The impact of junk foods on the adolescent brain
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Self-citationPositive urgency is related to difficulty inhibiting prepotent responses.
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The neural coding of feedback learning across child and adolescent development
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Attentional capture by emotional faces in adolescence
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A pilot mindfulness intervention to reduce heavy episodic drinking
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- Authors
- Steinberg, L., Albert, D., Cauffman, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., & Woolard, J.
- Affiliations
- Temple University (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Developmental Psychology
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1764-1778
- ISSN
- 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0599
- OpenAlex
- W2131065756
- Cited by
- 1,542
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 96 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 102 · 2021: 98 · 2020: 95 · 2019: 113 · 2018: 106 · 2017: 118 · 2016: 119 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 88 · 2013: 96 · 2012: 62
- FWCI
- 21.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- sensation seeking, impulsivity, age differences, dual systems model, pubertal development, risk-taking, adolescence, self-control, self-report measures, behavioral measures
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Child, Decision Making, Exploratory Behavior, Female, Games, Experimental, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Individuality, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Personality Development, Puberty, Reaction Time, Risk-Taking, Self Disclosure, Young Adult
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