A framework for interpreting the relationship between risk-taking and self-control in adolescence

Adolescent risky behaviors are often interpreted as products of self-control failures stemming from a developmental mismatch between reward processing and cognitive control systems. However, adolescents – much like adults – may also engage in risky behaviors because of conscious and deliberate (even if objectively poor) decisions. It is not easy to distinguish between these two scenarios because when people fail in self-control they actually do things they want to do. We build on philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s classical work on free will to provide a framework for determining when and why a given risky behavior stems from a failure of self-control. This framework enables the proposal of clear and reasonable criteria that can be used to clarify the relationship between adolescent risk-taking and self-control.