"We were surprised to discover that risk-taking was associated with more highly-developed white matter – a more mature brain,"
Additionally, it has been shown that the period of mid-adolescence (ages 15 through 19) is the time when teens are more likely to begin high-risk behaviors such as drinking, abusing drugs or driving recklessly.
Things still gets worse for non-risk taking teenagers. The researcher further rubs salt into wound by stating that risky behaviour drives early brain development if it's not the other way round. Both ways not much respite for non-risky teenagers.
Berns says more studies need to be done to determine if early brain development predisposes someone to engage in risky behaviors, or if the risky behavior drives the maturation of the brain.
I thought at least there was some respect from that angle for those years. Now even that is gone.
Via Science Daily
