ADHD, Executive Functions and Risky Behavior in Teens
Why do teens with ADHD and executive functioning issues tend to take more risks than your average young adult? From dangerous driving to experimentation ...
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One of the most conspicuous ways in which issues with executive function manifest themselves is in risky behavior in adolescents, or poor decision making. You have a choice of options. One of them may be really appealing in the short term, but you also have this longer-term goal, which is to be safe, and avoid risks, and achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. And when those are put into conflict, what's required is a kind of forward-looking, goal-directed problem solving. Do I want to take a chance and take that short-term reward, despite the potential for punishment or other negative consequences? Or alternatively, do I want to try effortfully to organize my behavior around a more prudent possible response? Executive function skills emerge very early in infancy and develop rapidly i...
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One of the most conspicuous ways in which issues with executive function manifest themselves is in risky behavior in adolescents, or poor decision making. You have a choice of options. One of them may be really appealing in the short term, but you also have this longer-term goal, which is to be safe, and avoid risks, and achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. And when those are put into conflict, what's required is a kind of forward-looking, goal-directed problem solving. Do I want to take a chance and take that short-term reward, despite the potential for punishment or other negative consequences? Or alternatively, do I want to try effortfully to organize my behavior around a more prudent possible response? Executive function skills emerge very early in infancy and develop rapidly i...
