We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Adolescent mice, unlike adults, consume more alcohol in the presence of peers than alone.
- Authors
Logue, Sheree; Chein, Jason; Gould, Thomas; Holliday, Erica; Steinberg, Laurence
- Abstract
One hallmark of adolescent risk-taking is that it typically occurs when adolescents are with peers. It has been hypothesized that the presence of peers primes a reward-sensitive motivational state that overwhelms adolescents' immature capacity for inhibitory control. We examined this hypothesis using a rodent model. A sample of mice were raised in same-sex triads and were tested for alcohol consumption either as juveniles or as adults, with half in each age group tested alone and half tested with their cagemates. The presence of 'peers' increased alcohol consumption among adolescent mice, but not adults. The peer effect on human adolescent reward-seeking may reflect a hard-wired, evolutionarily conserved process through which the presence of agemates increases individuals' sensitivity to potential rewards in their immediate environment.
- Subjects
TEENAGER attitudes; ALCOHOL drinking; LABORATORY rodents; REWARD (Law); ADOLESCENT psychology
- Publication
Developmental Science, 2014, Vol 17, Issue 1, p79
- ISSN
1363-755X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/desc.12101