Adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often face a reputation for impulsive and dangerous choices. A recent study shows that this tendency to take chances might also have a positive side, with these teenagers demonstrating a higher likelihood of standing up for others or engaging in socially beneficial risks compared to their peers. These findings were published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a common developmental condition characterized by patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. During adolescence, teenagers with this condition frequently experience difficulties navigating everyday life because they are more prone to taking risks. Research traditionally focuses on the harmful aspects of these behaviors. These negative risks include substance use, dangerous driving, and criminal activity.
During adolescence, all teenagers tend to take more chances than adults do. Developmental psychologists attribute this general trend to an imbalance in brain maturation. The affective, reward-seeking centers of the teenage brain develop relatively early. In contrast, the brain regions responsible for cognitive control and long-term planning mature much later.
This developmental timing creates a window where teenagers are highly sensitive to rewards but lack the neurological braking systems to stop impulsive actions. For adolescents with a diagnosed attention deficit, this natural imbalance is often exaggerated. The condition is associated with an oversized sensitivity to rewards and lower baseline levels of cognitive control. This combination makes these teenagers particularly susceptible to acting on impulses.
Taking a risk simply means making a choice where the outcome is uncertain and potentially variable. Risk-taking can sometimes be beneficial. Developmental psychologists categorize these beneficial chances into two distinct types. Positive risks describe actions that could benefit the young person themselves, such as trying out for a school play, joining a new sports team, or asking someone on a date.
Prosocial risks involve taking a chance for the benefit of someone else. Examples include defending a peer who is being bullied, speaking out against an authority figure, or participating in a controversial protest. While developmental researchers have begun to explore these beneficial forms of risk-taking in general populations, little was known about how youth with an attention deficit might experience them.
Barbara R. Braams, a cognitive neuroscientist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, led a research team to investigate this question. Braams studies adolescent brain development, specifically focusing on how teenagers make decisions and take risks in social contexts. Her team wanted to understand if the heightened impulsivity often seen in adolescents with an attention deficit might translate into a greater willingness to take positive and prosocial risks.
The research team recruited 104 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 for their study. The final sample included 50 teenagers who had received a formal clinical diagnosis of the disorder and 54 teenagers following typical developmental paths. The researchers asked the adolescents to complete a series of digital questionnaires and behavioral tasks during a session lasting about an hour.
To measure the tendency to take risks, the adolescents evaluated a variety of hypothetical scenarios. They rated how likely they were to participate in specific behaviors using a numerical scale ranging from zero to one hundred. The researchers measured negative risk-taking using an established questionnaire that asks about health and safety hazards, like choosing not to wear a seatbelt.
Because standardized tests for positive and prosocial risk-taking are relatively new concepts, the researchers designed two original questionnaires for this specific study. The positive risk-taking questionnaire presented thirteen hypothetical behaviors. These included actions like joining an unfamiliar recreation club, trying a new hobby, or striking up a conversation with a stranger.
The prosocial risk-taking questionnaire also featured thirteen scenarios. Participants visualized dilemmas such as donating a large amount of their own money to a charity or defending a classmate who is actively being mocked. Giving up money and facing a bully both carry immediate personal risks, but they ultimately serve a greater good.
The team also wanted to understand the psychological traits associated with these behaviors. They assessed impulsivity using both a self-reported survey and a behavioral computer task. In the computer task, participants chose between receiving a small amount of real money immediately or waiting a designated period of time for a larger amount of money.
This type of testing is called delay discounting. It measures how much a person devalues a reward based on how long they have to wait for it. During the task, participants watched digital planes fly across a screen carrying various amounts of cents. The researchers also collected survey data on proneness to boredom, feelings of empathy, and general tendencies to act in a helpful manner.
When the researchers analyzed the data, they discovered that teenagers with an attention deficit reported a higher likelihood of engaging in prosocial risk-taking than their typically developing peers. These teenagers were more willing to put their own social standing or comfort on the line to help someone else. The researchers did not find group differences for positive risk-taking or negative risk-taking.
The lack of a difference in negative risk-taking was somewhat unexpected, given past medical literature on the disorder. The authors noted that this specific study group might represent a particularly high-functioning slice of the population. Even so, the discovery regarding prosocial behavior offers a new perspective on adolescent impulsivity.
Across the entire group of teenagers in the study, the researchers found that all three types of risk-taking were positively correlated. This means that an adolescent who is willing to take a negative risk is also more likely to take positive and prosocial risks. A tendency toward embracing uncertain outcomes appears to be a general trait that spans multiple different contexts.
The team then looked at which specific psychological traits predicted these risk-taking tendencies. They found that impulsivity was positively related to both negative and prosocial risk-taking. Acting without thinking often leads young people into trouble, but that same rapid decision-making can prompt them to jump in and assist someone in need.
Contrary to the researchers’ initial expectations, they did not find a relationship between prosocial risk-taking and general empathy. A teenager who takes a chance for someone else might not necessarily do so because they feel a deep emotional resonance with that person. Instead, the researchers suggest that this behavior might stem from a heightened sensitivity to social justice.
Previous psychological studies have shown that individuals with this diagnosed attention deficit often possess a strong motivation to follow social rules and exhibit an amplified sense of justice. If they perceive an unfair situation, they might feel an impulsive drive to correct it. This sense of right and wrong might push them into a prosocial risk, independent of traditional empathetic feelings.
Every scientific study has limitations that require researchers to interpret the results with caution. One primary limitation of this research is its reliance on self-reported questionnaires and hypothetical scenarios. Teenagers might predict they would act a certain way in a hypothetical situation, but their actual behavior out in the world could differ.
Future observational studies could help confirm these results by tracking behaviors in authentic environments. The researchers suggested that future work might evaluate the proportion of young people with clinical diagnoses who participate in real-world activism. An example might be taking attendance at a climate change protest to see who chooses to attend.
Another limitation is the relatively small sample size of just over one hundred total participants. Because the researchers designed two of the questionnaires specifically for this project, other scientists will need to replicate the findings using diverse and larger groups. Validating these new psychological measurement tools will be an important step for the field.
These findings carry practical implications for medical professionals, educators, and parents. Treatment plans for teenagers with an attention deficit usually concentrate on preventing harmful behaviors. This study suggests that adults might also want to help these adolescents find safe, productive ways to channel their impulsive energy for the benefit of others.
By guiding them toward prosocial opportunities, adults can help teenagers reframe a perceived vulnerability as a strength.
The study, “The Upside of ADHD-related Risk-taking: Adolescents With ADHD Report a Higher Likelihood of Engaging in Prosocial Risk-taking Behavior Than Typically Developing Adolescents,” was authored by Barbara R. Braams, Rebecca van Rijn, Tessa Leijser, and Tycho J. Dekkers.
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