Adolescents’ risk-taking behavior is driven by tolerance to ambiguity
Open accessAbstract
Adolescents engage in a wide range of risky behaviors that their older peers shun, and at an enormous cost. Despite being older, stronger, and healthier than children, adolescents face twice the risk of mortality and morbidity faced by their younger peers. Are adolescents really risk-seekers or does some richer underlying preference drive their love of the uncertain? To answer that question, we used standard experimental economic methods to assess the attitudes of 65 individuals ranging in age from 12 to 50 toward risk and ambiguity. Perhaps surprisingly, we found that adolescents were, if anything, more averse to clearly stated risks than their older peers. What distinguished adolescents was their willingness to accept ambiguous conditions—situations in which the likelihood of winning and losing is unknown. Though adults find ambiguous monetary lotteries undesirable, adolescents find them tolerable. This finding suggests that the higher level of risk-taking observed among adolescents may reflect a higher tolerance for the unknown. Biologically, such a tolerance may make sense, because it would allow young organisms to take better advantage of learning opportunities; it also suggests that policies that seek to inform adolescents of the risks, costs, and benefits of unexperienced dangerous behaviors may be effective and, when appropriate, could be used to complement policies that limit their experiences.
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In a risk-taking task, adolescents made fewer risky decisions than adults when loss probabilities were known, but made significantly more risky decisions than adults when probabilities were unknown.
“Compared to adults, adolescents made fewer risky decisions when the probabilities of loss were known (i.e., adolescents were less risk tolerant). However, when the probabilities were unknown, adolescents made significantly more risky decisions than adults.”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Tymula et al., 2012
The shift in triadic balance may also underlie a unique adolescent-related sensitivity to uncertainty and ambiguity.
“Of note, this shift in the triadic balance may also underlie a unique adolescent-related sensitivity to uncertainty and ambiguity, as suggested by Tymula et al. (2012).”
From A systematic review of fMRI reward paradigms used in studies of adolescents vs. adults: The impact of task design and implications for understanding neurodevelopment (2013) · cites this paper as Tymula et al., 2012
In a recent behavioral study, adolescents appeared ambiguity-tolerant and uncertainty-averse compared to adults.
“In this recent behavioral study, adolescents appeared ambiguity-tolerant and, paradoxically, uncertainty-averse compared to adults.”
From A systematic review of fMRI reward paradigms used in studies of adolescents vs. adults: The impact of task design and implications for understanding neurodevelopment (2013) · cites this paper as Tymula et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Tymula, A., Rosenberg Belmaker, L. A., Roy, A. K., Ruderman, L., Manson, K., Glimcher, P. W., & Levy, I.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Section of Comparative Medicine and
- Fordham University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 42
- Pages
- 17135-17140
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3479478
- OpenAlex
- W1988093392
- Cited by
- 387
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 13.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG033406)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- adolescent risk-taking, ambiguity tolerance, risk aversion, ambiguity aversion, risk-taking, adolescent development
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Choice Behavior, Connecticut, Decision Making, Female, Games, Experimental, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, New York City, Risk-Taking, Uncertainty
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