Why teenage boys do stupid things

[Jazzy]

An 18-year-old boy in Georgia drowns after he is tied to a shopping cart and pushed into a lake while horsing around with friends after his high school graduation. A young man, 19, causes a multi-car accident when he faints from holding his breath while driving through a tunnel in Portland, Ore.

Tragic stories of teens doing stupid things -- boys in particular -- constantly make the news. And there are biological reasons behind it: this type of risky, defiant and downright dangerous behavior has its roots in distinct differences in the developing brain of a young person.

New data from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows just how many teens engage in hazardous behavior.

The report finds that despite public health campaigns and a relative awareness, teens are still having unprotected sex; in 2013, the number of sexually-active teens who used condoms was 59 percent, down 4 points from a decade before. Teens also continue to text and drive even though more than 40 states have passed laws that make it illegal. Nationwide, 41 percent of students who have driven a vehicle during in the past 30 days reported they had texted or emailed while driving.

Risky teen behavior can have deadly consequences. According the National Institutes of Health, death rates from accidents increase dramatically during early and late adolescence. Death by injury is as much as six times higher among teens age 15 to 19 than kids between age 10 and 14. Overall crime rates are highest among young males.

Research has found that peer pressure activates certain brain signals that are linked to the powerful drug-like interplay of risk and reward. And a captive audience is the quickest way to bolster the brain's reward system.

That may be why teenage boys constantly egg each other on to fight, play harder, drink more and drive faster.

Social and cultural roles further encourage risky behavior among young men. Michael Thompson, psychologist and author of three books about boys, including "It's a Boy!: Your Son's Development from Birth to 18," says risk-taking behavior is driven by the desire to fit into society's standards for masculinity.

"Boys believe there's a test to pass for manhood and this is different than a test for womanhood and femininity." he told CBS News.

Source

Your thoughts?

 

[DrLeftover]

This morning we were driving north on one of the busiest streets in town, and I had to pass a very slow moving car in the left lane on its right.

The young lady driving was TEXTING.

She was holding her phone on the steering wheel and typing something, while driving.

 

[McConnaughay]

This morning we were driving north on one of the busiest streets in town, and I had to pass a very slow moving car in the left lane on its right.

The young lady driving was TEXTING.

She was holding her phone on the steering wheel and typing something, while driving.

Your point being that people are come in all shapes, sizes, and genders of stupid? If so, I agree.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Some kids and young adults have this strange sence of immortality. You will get hurt or die when you do risky things (sooner or later). What's so hard to understand about that?

 

[Khalessi]

Sometimes all you can say is .. YOUNG ..and DUMB.

 

[Phossix]

For me, I'd say all the stupid stuff I did was an effort to impress people. Fortunately, that has yet to kill me. Yet.