While previous research has primarily focused on how the dev

While previous research has primarily focused on how the developing Cyanine3.5 carboxylic acid predisposes adolescents to health-compromising behaviors, there is an emerging literature exploring how adolescent brain development facilitates healthy outcomes. In particular, scholars suggest that hyperactive reward and affective processing, coupled with heightened social cognitive processing, also underlie adaptive and beneficial behaviors (see Telzer, 2016). For instance, the ventral affective system, which is often implicated in risk taking behaviors, is also responsive to healthy rewards, such as helping others (Telzer et al., 2015; Telzer et al., 2013a, 2014). Interactions between reward-related circuitry and prefrontal systems can even bolster inhibitory control (Teslovich et al., 2014; Pfeifer et al., 2011; Telzer et al., 2015). Overall, these findings highlight that normative changes in the adolescent brain are associated with both positive and negative outcomes. In subsequent sections, we will integrate these perspectives (i.e., that heightened reward sensitivity engenders negative risk taking and positive other-oriented behaviors) and propose that these neural systems may also facilitate behavior that is helpful towards others, even when there are inherent risks to oneself.
Risk-taking behaviors during adolescence Risk taking, or engaging in a behavior with an uncertain outcome that may lead to detriments in a given domain (e.g. health, social, etc.), is one of the most widely studied topics in developmental science. This is due, in part, to its real-world impact: morbidity and mortality rates increase 200–300% from childhood to adolescence, with 70% of annual adolescent deaths in the United States stemming from risky behaviors such as reckless driving or unsafe sexual practices (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2012; Victor and Hariri, 2016). In the following section, we briefly discuss the developmental trajectories of risk taking behaviors, the supporting brain systems involved, and how social factors influence risk-taking.
Prosocial behaviors during adolescence The ability to become less self-oriented and more helpful to others has been considered one of the hallmarks of adulthood (Arnett, 2003). Yet, surprisingly less attention has been devoted to understanding the development of prosocial behaviors relative to risk taking behaviors. Prosociality describes voluntary actions intended to benefit another, which range from cooperating with others to making donations. Longitudinal work in humans has shown that children and adolescents who exhibit greater prosocial behaviors have better relationships with peers (Eisenberg et al., 2006), less internalizing and externalizing problems (Bandura, 1999), and better academic performance (Caprara et al., 2000; Wentzel et al., 2004). Prosocial youth are also more likely to have better cognitive and emotion regulation abilities (Rothbart and Rueda, 2005; Eisenberg et al., 2006), which may enable them to adapt to environmental stressors better than their less prosocial counterparts. Together, these findings underscore the adaptive benefits of prosocial behaviors.
Prosocial Risk Taking Given key socialization processes and a rapid reorganization of motivational, social, and cognitive neural circuitry during adolescence (summarized in Table 1), we propose a new area of study, Prosocial Risk Taking (PSRT), to explore the possibility that adolescents engage in risk-taking behaviors to benefit others. In this section, we discuss the proposed behavioral and neural mechanisms of PSRT and describe four behavioral types that may emerge when considering how prosocial and risk-taking tendencies interact. We discuss evidence that suggests adolescence could be a sensitive period for PSRT, with a focus on how individual differences in several psychosocial factors contribute to PSRT. Finally, we consider the best methodological practices for investigating this phenomenon and discuss its implications on adolescent adjustment and neurodevelopment.