Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May;91(3):e665-e681.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13292. Epub 2019 Aug 27.

Behavioral and Neural Pathways Supporting the Development of Prosocial and Risk-Taking Behavior Across Adolescence

Neeltje E Blankenstein  1   2 , Eva H Telzer  3 , Kathy T Do  3 , Anna C K van Duijvenvoorde  1   2 , Eveline A Crone  1   2
Affiliations

Behavioral and Neural Pathways Supporting the Development of Prosocial and Risk-Taking Behavior Across Adolescence

Neeltje E Blankenstein et al. Child Dev. 2020 May.

Abstract

This study tested the pathways supporting adolescent development of prosocial and rebellious behavior. Self-report and structural brain development data were obtained in a three-wave, longitudinal neuroimaging study (8-29 years, N = 210 at Wave 3). First, prosocial and rebellious behavior assessed at Wave 3 were positively correlated. Perspective taking and intention to comfort uniquely predicted prosocial behavior, whereas fun seeking (current levels and longitudinal changes) predicted both prosocial and rebellious behaviors. These changes were accompanied by developmental declines in nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) volumes, but only faster decline of MPFC (faster maturity) related to less rebellious behavior. These findings point toward a possible differential susceptibility marker, fun seeking, as a predictor of both prosocial and rebellious developmental outcomes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Developmental trajectories of (A) Perspective Taking and (B) medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC; in cubic millimeters). Red lines indicate female, blue lines indicate male, and gray areas mark the 95% CI. Developmental trajectories of Behavioral Activation Scales and NACC are described in Schreuders et al. (2018) and Wierenga et al. (2018), respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Theoretical model depicting the intersection between risk‐taking and prosocial tendencies. Reprinted from Do et al. (2017, p. 267), Copyright (2016), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Developmental patterns of (A) prosocial behavior and (B) rebellious behavior, assessed at the final wave. The red line indicates female, the blue line indicates male, and the black line indicates no gender effect. Gray areas mark the 95% CI. (C) The positive association between prosocial and rebellious behavior, controlled for age (linear and quadratic) and gender.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bault, N. , Joffily, M. , Rustichini, A. , & Coricelli, G. (2011). Medial prefrontal cortex and striatum mediate the influence of social comparison on the decision process. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 16044–16049. 10.1073/pnas.1100892108 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becht, A. I. , Bos, M. G. , Nelemans, S. A. , Peters, S. , Vollebergh, W. A. , Branje, S. J. , … Crone, E. A. (2018). Goal‐directed correlates and neurobiological underpinnings of adolescent identity: A multimethod multisample longitudinal approach. Child Development, 89, 823–836. 10.1111/cdev.13048 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blakemore, S. J. (2008). The social brain in adolescence. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 267 10.1038/nrn2353 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blakemore, S. J. , & Mills, K. L. (2014). Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 187–207. 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blankenstein, N. E. , Schreuders, E. , Peper, J. S. , Crone, E. A. , & van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K. (2018). Individual differences in risk‐taking tendencies modulate the neural processing of risky and ambiguous decision‐making in adolescence. NeuroImage, 172, 663–673. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.085 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types