Risk-Taking in Adolescent Girls: Multi-Level Interactive Mechanisms

描述(申请人提供)：许多危险行为在青春期发生的频率比人生的任何其他阶段都要高--青少年比儿童或成年人更有可能酗酒，有随意性伴侣，从事暴力行为，犯罪，以及卷入严重的车祸。显然，青少年危险危险行为的激增是一个重要的公共卫生问题。此外，一些先前的风险因素和后果是女孩所特有的。例如，女孩比男孩更早开始青春期成熟，女孩和男孩在青春期的特定荷尔蒙变化不同，导致药物滥用和性风险的一些心理和社会压力似乎不同，以及一些负面后果(如意外怀孕)是女性独有的。因此，拟议的研究计划试图澄清个人和背景因素相互作用的方式来预测青春期女孩的冒险行为。本研究以社会神经科学视角探讨青少年冒险行为，旨在(1)探讨感觉寻求在解释女孩青春期成熟与冒险行为之间的关系中所起的作用；(2)了解青春期成熟在影响女孩对社会情境的敏感性及由此产生的冒险行为中的作用；(3)考察感觉寻求在特定社会情境下对女孩冒险行为的影响。实验设计将被用来在一个更大的跨学科项目的背景下检查研究问题。长期目标包括检查性别差异，纵向调查多个领域的冒险轨迹，探索荷尔蒙和社会情绪机制，以及开发行为方法论来理解复杂的因果过程。这项研究计划对预防药物滥用、性风险和其他有害的危险行为具有重要意义。对导致冒险的生物、行为和社会背景之间的相互作用进行更深层次、更机械化的理解，可以为专门针对处于特定成熟期的女孩的早期干预计划提供目标。拟议的研究计划将通过青少年健康、认知发展、药物滥用、先进统计方法和负责任的研究行为等课程以及多学科咨询和会议演讲来丰富。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many risky behaviors occur with higher frequency in adolescence than in any other stage of life--teens are more likely to binge drink, have casual sex partners, engage in violent behavior, commit crimes, and be involved in serious automobile accidents than either children or adults. Clearly, this adolescent surge in risky dangerous behavior is an important public health concern. Moreover, some antecedent risk factors and consequences are unique to girls. For example, pubertal maturation begins earlier in girls than boys, the specific hormonal changes at puberty differ for girls and boys, some of the psychological and social stressors that contribute to substance abuse and sexual risk-taking appear different, and some negative consequences (such as unplanned pregnancy) are unique to females. Thus, the proposed program of research seeks to clarify the ways in which individual and contextual factors interact to predict risk-taking in adolescent girls. Based on a social neuroscience perspective of adolescent risk-taking, the specific aims of this multi-level project are to (1) investigate the role of sensation seeking in explaining the relationship between pubertal maturation and risk-taking behavior in girls; (2) understand the role of pubertal maturation in influencing girls' sensitivity to social context and resulting risk-taking behavior; nd (3) examine the influence of sensation seeking on girls' risk-taking behavior given the social context. An experimental design will be utilized to examine the research questions within the context of a larger interdisciplinary project. Long-term goals include examining sex differences, longitudinally investigating risk-taking trajectories in multiple domains, exploring hormonal and socio-emotional mechanisms, and developing behavioral methodology to understand complex causal processes. This program of research has major implications for the prevention of substance abuse, sexual risk-taking, and other harmful risky behaviors. A deeper more mechanistic understanding of the interactions between biological, behavioral, and social context interactions leading to risk-taking could provide targets for early intervention programs aimed specifically at girls at particular windows of maturation. The proposed program of research will be enriched through courses in adolescent health, cognitive development, substance abuse, advanced statistical methods, and the responsible conduct of research, as well as multidisciplinary consultations and conference presentations.