Posted on January 18, 2012

Some kids need encouragement to go down the slide at the park while other kids are endlessly seeking out the tallest tree to climb or the craziest stunt to pull. There is no question that kids and teens are wired differently. A recent study warns that there appears to be a bio-chemical reason why some kids take more risks than others and one that could make them more susceptible to abusing substances.

IMAGEN -An Ongoing Teen Study

A European study being conducted at multiple sites is an ongoing study of over 2,000 teenagers using genetic neuroimaging (MRI) to determine why some kids are drawn to risk-taking behaviors and whether such a tendency may be linked to substance abuse. The study, called the IMAGEN project has already made some interesting discoveries. For example, an MRI study which examined 266 adolescents who enjoy high-risk activities but have no reported substance abuse issues at present, found a lower bilateral activation of certain reward centers in the brain. The participants were given a task (Cambridge Gamble Task) specially designed to create an anticipation of reward. Researchers discovered that markedly higher risk scores corresponded to notably lower activity in the left ventral striatum – a reward center in the brain.

The IMAGEN study findings most recently published compared 14 year olds without substance abuse issues to other 14 year olds who were classified as potentially problematic substance users. The term potentially problematic meant that the teens were either habitual smokers, had risk factors for alcohol abuse or had already tried illicit substances such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroin among others. The teen groups were made up almost equally of male and female participants to rule out gender influences.

Teens May Be Seeking to Kick-Start the Brain’s Reward Center

Data points to a predilection for risk-taking activities and drug abuse as both are having connection to reduced activity in a teen’s neural reward center. This means that it is likely that teens who engage in high risk behaviors may be attempting to stimulate more activity in their brain’s reward system. Past research bears out the link between risk-taking, addiction and reduced responsiveness in the reward centers of the brain. Teens with a lethargic reward activation could be far more vulnerable to activities which offer short-term euphoria – activities like taking psychotropic drugs for example.

The study goes a long way toward making a teen’s propensity for risk-taking to being a vulnerability factor in predicting whether a teen will go on to abuse substances at some point in the future. Follow-up studies are being planned which should give data at the point of young adulthood that could verify these current findings. For the present, parents of teens who tend toward high-risk behaviors should be warned of the potential link to substance abuse and can be encouraged to direct their teen toward healthy and positive outlets for their reward stimulation. High adventure sports or even traveling to exotic locales may satisfy the teens’ craving.