Risk Taking Behavior In Laurence Steinberg's Taking Sides

Adolescence is the stage in development that is between childhood and adulthood. The onset of adolescence coincides with puberty and usually begins at the age of thirteen and ends at the age of eighteen. The adolescent stage is said to be the most challenging stage in a person’s life due to the developmental changes whether it is physical, emotional or social changes. It is no secret that adolescents take more risks than children or adults do, statistics proves it but understanding why has left researchers puzzled for decades. In the book, Taking Sides psychology professor Laurence Steinberg believes that the adolescent brain’s ability to reason and think is not fully developed during the adolescent period so therefore contributes to adolescents taking risks without effectively accounting for the consequences of their actions. Sociologist Michael Males believes different types of socioeconomic differences influence risk taking behavior in adolescents and the brain, along with age, has nothing to do with it. After reading both sides of this controversial issue I am inclined to agree with Laurence Steinberg as she states the adolescent brain makes risk taking inevitable because their brain is not fully developed.
Laurence …show more content…
Male’s points out that in the same survey, if you ignore the age related issue there is an even larger proportion, one third, of violent offenses that were carried out in groups were African Americans, of all ages. Males concludes this survey of group offending is not about age or race but poverty, which is all too common among African Americans and adolescents (Guest, 2013, p.