Risk Management with Teens
Mark E. Crawford, Ph.D.
Overview
• 1) Why do students take more risks as they
enter adolescence?
• 2) What are the things we need to be particularly
vigilant about during these years?
• 3) What are some effective strategies for parents
to help protect our kids?
This is NOT a “good kid” vs. “bad kid” issue….
• Good kids make BAD decisions….
• The teenage brain:
– Is bad at risk assessment
– Seeks novelty and stimulation
– Does not anticipate consequences effectively
Teen brain development from ages 5 – 20 years:
Executive skills:
• planning ahead
• making informed judgments and weighing the potential costs,
benefits, and risks of making various decisions (anticipating
consequences)
• Drawing on past experience in the moment of decision
making
• organizing tasks
• prioritizing activities
• deciding when to initiate or start a task in order to allow
sufficient time to complete that activity
Executive skills:
• inhibiting impulses
• controlling the expression of powerful
emotions such as anger, anxiety, and
frustration in order to prevent these feelings
from exerting too much influence on
judgment and decision making (emotional
highjacking)
The Three R’s
RESPECT
RESPONSIBILITY
Privileges
RISK
The Three R’s
RESPECT
RESPONSIBILITY
RISK
The Third R: Risk
• Substance Abuse
• Sexual Behavior
• Technology
Percentage of students who drank at least
one drink in the last 30 days:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
31.5%
40.6%
45.7%
51.7%
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
YRBSS. Surveillance Summaries, June 4.
MMWR 2010;59(No. SS-5)
Percentage of students who had 5 or more drinks in a
row within 2 hours in the last 30 days:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
15.3%
22.3%
28.3%
33.5%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who have tried
marijuana at least once:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
26.4%
35.5%
42%
45.6%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who have smoked
marijuana at least once in the last 30 days:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
15.5%
21.1%
23.2%
24.6%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who have abused
prescription drugs (without a doctor’s
prescription):
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
15.4%
18.2%
22.7%
25.8%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who have tried
marijuana before the age of 13 years:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
9.1%
8.3%
6.5%
5.2%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who rode in a car driven by
someone who had been drinking alcohol at least once
in the last 30 days:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
27.5%
28%
29.4%
28.2%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who drove a vehicle when they
had been drinking alcohol at least once in the last 30
days:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
5%
8.3%
11.4%
15.4%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Teen vs. Adult Rats and the effects of alcohol:
• Adolescent rats are less sensitive to the
sedative and motor impairment effects of
intoxication
• Adolescent rats are more sensitive to the
social disinhibition induced by alcohol use
• Adolescent drunk rats perform worse on
memory tasks than adult drunk rats
Implications…
• Teens may drink more than adults before they are
sedated and have poor motor skills = potential
alcohol poisoning
• Teens portion of the brain that allows them to be
inhibited is more sensitive = riskier behavior
• In short: Teenagers can drink far more than adults
before they get sleepy enough to stop, but along
the way they're impairing their cognitive
functions and judgment much more powerfully
Anatomy of an addiction:
• Immediate use of a drug increases production
of Dopamine
• Continued use results in the brain decreasing
it’s own production of Dopamine
• The brain begins to believe that the thing that
produced the Dopamine has survival value
• The brain begins to seek the substance
• Craving occurs, use increases, dependency
follows
WHAT ABOUT SEX?
Percentage of students who have had sexual
intercourse:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
31.6%
40.9%
53%
62.3%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who had sexual intercourse for
the first time before the age of 13 years:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
7.7%
6.5%
4.3%
4.4%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who are currently
sexually active:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
21.4%
29.1%
40.3%
49.1%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who have had sexual
intercourse with 4 or more partners:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
8.8%
11.7%
15.2%
20.9%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of students who used a condom
during last sexual intercourse:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
64%
67.8%
61.4%
55%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Percentage of teens who DID NOT use a condom
during last sexual intercourse:
•
•
•
•
Grade 9
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
36%
32.2%
38.6%
45%
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. YRBSS. Surveillance
Summaries, June 4. MMWR 2010;59(No.
SS-5)
Concerns
• Pregnancy
• STD’s
• Emotional consequences
Technology and Teens
•
•
•
•
•
Posting information that is self-incriminating
“Cyber-bullying”
“Sexting”
Conversations are different when not face-to-face
Unrealistic perception of others’ lives (chronic
feeling of “missing out” - FOMO)
• Failure to develop and fine tune skills needed for
one-to-one human interaction
What can you do??
• You have influence with your teen… use it!
• Have clear expectations about what your family
values and expectations are around sexual
activity, substance use, and the use of technology
• Appreciate the value of dialogue (many
conversations vs. “the talk”)
• Understand the teen brain and appreciate the
unique vulnerability teens have in high risk
situations
• Have some limits and decide how you will
monitor and enforce them
• Identify the highest risk situations
Risk taking (alone v. with friends)
3.5
3
2.5
2
Adolescents
Young Adults
1.5
Adults
1
0.5
0
Crashes (ALONE)
Crashes (WITH FRIENDS)
Gardner & Steinberg (2004)
• Understand and help your kids understand
their unique risk factors
– Family history
– Ever gotten in trouble
– History of blackouts
– Continued use when being monitored
Be the adult
• Your kids need for you to be a parent – not a
friend
–
–
–
–
Present and active in their lives
Providing reliable information
Teaching a value system to help them make decisions
Providing supervision and monitoring them (Don’t be
the “cool parent”
– Talk to other parents (share information)
– Saying “no” for them when they lack the life
experience and wisdom to do so for themselves
Questions??