Around the world, adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self-regulation.
The dual systems model of adolescent risk-taking portrays the period as one characterized by a combination of heightened sensation seeking and still-maturing self-regulation, but most tests of this model have been conducted in the United States or Western Europe. In the present study, these propositions are tested in an international sample of more than 5000 individuals between ages 10 and 30 years from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, using a multi-method test battery that includes both self-report and performance-based measures of both constructs. Consistent with the dual systems model, sensation seeking increased between preadolescence and late adolescence, peaked at age 19, and declined thereafter, whereas self-regulation increased steadily from preadolescence into young adulthood, reaching a plateau between ages 23 and 26. Although there were some variations in the magnitude of the observed age trends, the developmental patterns were largely similar across countries.
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.|King Abdulaziz University.
Laurence
L
Steinberg
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.
Grace
G
Icenogle
Department of Psychology, Brock University, St Catherines, Canada.
Elizabeth P
EP
Shulman
Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA.
Kaitlyn
K
Breiner
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.
Jason
J
Chein
Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
Dario
D
Bacchini
Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macau.
Lei
L
Chang
Department of Human Development and Childhood Studies, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.
Nandita
N
Chaudhary
Department of Psychology, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
Laura Di
LD
Giunta
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Kenneth A
KA
Dodge
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Kostas A
KA
Fanti
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Jennifer E
JE
Lansford
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Patrick S
PS
Malone
Department of Educational Psychology, Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya.
Paul
P
Oburu
Department of Psychology, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
Concetta
C
Pastorelli
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Ann T
AT
Skinner
Department of Psychology, University West.
Emma
E
Sorbring
Department of Psychiatry, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Sombat
S
Tapanya
Consultorio Psicológico Popular, Universidad San Buenaventura, Cali, Columbia.
Liliana Maria Uribe
LMU
Tirado
Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, the Philippines.
Liane Peña
LP
Alampay
Queen Rania Faculty for Childhood, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
Suha M
SM
Al-Hassan
Queen Rania Faculty for Childhood, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
Hanan M S
HMS
Takash
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D057566:Self Report; D012677:Sensation; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult