The article I saw today really doesn't address sex, but it does say a lot about teens and risky behavior. But as we all know, teenagers aren't at all interested in sex.
We've all felt the surge of an adrenaline rush. It does give you a high feeling, at any age. Teenagers,it turns out, just get extra stimulated by it. University of Texas cognitive neuro-scientist Russell Poldrack says "Teenagers seek out these sorts of rewarding experiences, and this provides a little explanation for that. In the long run, it may help us understand how addictions start and develop."
The hormone in question here is dopamine. Dopamine is released in the brain as a result of an action. If the action results in a positive outcome, dopamine is released and makes you feel good. Teens, the study finds, are much more sensitive to dopamine than children and adults. The results of (successful) risky behavior are much more pleasurable to a teen than to an adult or child.
Interestingly, teenage women are not the group most likely to have an abortion. Eighteen percent of women having abortions are teenagers, while 57% of of women that end their pregnancies are in their twenties. Women aged 20 to 24 have the most abortions by age (33%) and between the age of 25 and 29, the number falls to 24%. No reason yet at as to why women in their early twenties have the most unwanted pregnancies. Perhaps researchers should cover young people from their early teens to age 25 to gauge their interest in risky actions.
Source:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
http://news.discovery.com/human/teenager-brain-risky-behavior.html
No comments:
Post a Comment