Teen shortsightedness not due to impulse

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The reason teens are prone to risky decision-making has less to do with impulse and more to do with a desire do something exciting, U.S. researchers suggest.

Scientists at Temple University, the University of California, Los Angeles, Georgetown University, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Colorado, looked at more than 900 individuals ranging in age from age 10-30 and from a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic group to determine how people of different ages think about the future consequences of their decisions.

The researchers used a new questionnaire and an experimental task called delay discounting, which measures the extent to which people prefer immediate but smaller rewards over delayed but larger ones.

Compared with adults, teenagers consider the future less and prefer immediate rewards over delayed ones -- for example, $700 today versus $1,000 a year from now.

The study, published in the journal Child Development, found that teens are shortsighted more due to immaturity in the brain systems that govern sensation seeking than to immaturity in the brain systems responsible for self-control.

Brain systems governing sensation seeking are very active between the ages of 10-16, while brain systems governing self-control continue to mature beyond age 16, the study said.