Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience of Adolescent Sexual Risk and Alcohol Use

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Human adolescents engage in very high rates of unprotected sex. This behavior has a high potential for unintended, serious, and sustained health consequences including HIV/AIDS. Despite these serious health consequences, we know little about the neural and cognitive factors that influence adolescents’ decision-making around sex, and their potential overlap with behaviorally co-occurring risk behaviors, including alcohol use. Thus, in this review, we evaluate the developmental neuroscience of sexual risk and alcohol use for human adolescents with an eye to relevant prevention and intervention implications.

Resumen

Adolescentes humanos participan en muy altas tasas de relaciones sexuales sin protección. Este comportamiento tiene un alto potencial de consecuencias para la salud que no están intencionales, y que son severos y sostenidos, incluyendo VIH/SIDA. A pesar de estos consecuencias para la salud, sabemos muy poco de los factores neurales y cognitivos que influyen los decisiones de comportamiento sexual y la coincidencia potencial de estos mechanismos con los que forman la base de comportamientos de riesgo que son fuertemente asociadas con relaciones sexuales sin protección, incluyendo el uso del alcohol. Así, en esto revisión, evaluamos la neurociencia del desarrollo del riesgo sexual y el uso de alcohol en adolescentes humanos poniendo el acento en las implicaciones de prevención y intervención pertinentes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. CDC. Youth risk behavior surveillance survey. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2013;66:1–172.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Shedler J, Block J. Adolescent drug use and psychological health: a longitudinal inquiry. Am Psychol. 1990;45(5):612–30.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Feldstein Ewing SW, Bryan AD. A question of love and trust? The role of relationship factors in adolescent sexual decision-making. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2015.

  4. CDC. Sexually transmitted infections among young Americans. In: National Center for HIV/AIDs VH, STD, and TB Prevention, editor. 2014.

  5. Cooper ML. Alcohol use and risky sexual behavior among college students and youth: evaluating the evidence. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2002;14:101–17.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cooper ML. Does drinking promote risky sexual behavior? A complex answer to a simple question. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2006;15:19–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bryan AD, Ray LA, Cooper ML. Alcohol use and protective sexual behaviors among high-risk adolescents. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2007;68(3):327–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Mills KL, Goddings AL, Clasen LS, Giedd JN, Blakemore S-J. The developmental mismatch in structural brain maturation during adolescence. Dev Neurosci. 2014;36:147–60.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Goldenberg D, Telzer EH, Lieberman MD, Fuligni A, Galvan A. Neural mechanisms of impulse control in sexually risky adolescents. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2013;6:23–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Thayer RE, Montanaro E, Weiland BJ, Callahan TJ, Bryan AD. Exploring the relationship of functional network connectivity to latent trajectories of alcohol use and risky sex. Curr HIV Res. 2014;12:293–300.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Magnan RE, Callahan TJ, Ladd BO, Claus ED, Hutchison KE, Bryan AD. Evaluating an integrative theoretical framework for HIV sexual risk among juvenile justice involved adolescents. J AIDS Clin Res. 2013;4:217.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Feldstein Ewing SW, Houck JM, Bryan AD. Neural activation during response inhibition is associated with adolescents’ frequency of risky sex and substance use. Addict Behav. 2015;44:80–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Hensel DJ, Hummer TA, Acrurio LR, James TW, Fortenberry JD. Feasibility of functional neuroimaging to understand adolescent women’s sexual decision making. J Adolesc Health. 2015;56:389–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Hall GS. Adolescence: Its psychology and relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education (Vols I & II). New York: D. Appleton & Co.; 1904.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Giedd JN. The digital revolution and adolescent brain evolution. J Adolesc Health. 2012;51:101–5.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Sercombe H. Risk, adaptation, and the functional teenage brain. Brain Cogn. 2014;89:61–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Somerville LH, Jones R, Casey BJ. A time of change: behavioral and neural correlates of adolescent sensitivity to appetitive and aversive environmental cues. Brain Cogn. 2010;72:124–33.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Ernst M. The triadic model perspective for the study of adolescent motivated behavior. Brain Cogn. 2014;89:104–11.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Casey BJ, Getz S, Galvan A. The adolescent brain. Dev Rev. 2008;28(1):62–77.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Steinberg L. A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Dev Rev. 2008;28(1):78–106.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H. Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain. 2000;123:2189–202.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Steinberg L. The influence of neuroscience on US Supreme Court decisions about adolescents’ criminal culpability. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2013;14:513–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Noel X. Why adolescents are at risk of misusing alcohol and gambling. Alcohol Alcohol. 2014;49:165–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Willoughby T, Good M, Adachi PJ, Hamza C, Tavernier R. Examining the link between adolescent brain development and risk taking from a social-developmental perspective. Brain Cogn. 2014;89:70–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Kawamichi H, Sasaki AT, Matsunaga M, Yoshihara K, Takahashi HK, Tanabe HC, et al. Medial prefrontal cortex activation is commonly invoked by reputation of self and romantic partners. PLoS One. 2013;8:e74958.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Kuhn S, Gallinat J. Brain structure and functional connectivity associated with pornography consumption: the brain on porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71:827–34.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Donahue CH, Lee D. Dynamic routing of task-relevant signals for decision making in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2015;18:295–301.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Volkow ND, Baler RD. Addiction science: uncovering neurobiological complexity. Neuropharmacology. 2014;76:235–49.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Robinson MJ, Berridge KC. Instant transformation of learned repulsion into motivational “wanting”. Curr Biol. 2013;23:282–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Luciana M, Segalowitz SJ. Some challenges for the triadic model for the study of adolescent development. Brain Cogn. 2014;39:118–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Spielberg JM, Olino TM, Forbes EE, Dahl RE. Exciting fear in adolescence: does pubertal development alter threat processing? Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2014;8:86–95.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Ellis BJ. Determinants of pubertal timing: an evolutionary developmental approach. In: Ellis BJ, Bjorkland DF, editors. Origins of the social mind: evolutionary psychology and child development. New York: Guilford Press; 2005. p. 164–88.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Stanton BF, Li X, Ricardo I, Galbraith J, Feigelman S, Kaljee L. A randomized, controlled effectiveness trial of an AIDS prevention program for low-income African-American youth. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150:363–72.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Jemmott LS, Jemmott JB. Increasing condom use intentions among sexually active black adolescent women. Nurs Res. 1992;41:273–6.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Schmiege SJ, Broaddus MR, Levin ME, Bryan AD. Randomized trial of group interventions to reduce HIV/STD risk and change theoretical mediators among detained adolescents. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2009;77(1):38–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Broaddus MR, Schmiege SJ, Bryan AD. An expanded model of the temporal stability of condom use intentions: gender-specific predictors among high-risk adolescents. Ann Behav Med. 2011;42:99–110.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Rupp HA, James TW, Ketterson ED, Sengelaub DR, Jannsen E, Heiman JR. The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in women’s sexual decision making. Horm Behav. 2009;1:42–7.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Pfaus JG, Kippin TE, Coria-Avila GA. What can animal models tell us about human sexual response? Annu Rev Sex Res. 2003;14:1–63.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Pfaus JG, Kippin TE, Coria-Avila GA, Gelez HA, Afonso VM, Ismail N, Parada M. Who, what, where, when (and maybe even why?) How the experience of sexual reward connects sexual desire, preference, and performance. Arch Sex Behav. 2012;41:31–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Casey BJ. Beyond simple models of self-control to circuit-based accounts of adolescent behavior. Annu Rev Psychol. 2015;66(1–6):25.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Dir AL, Coskunipar A, Cyders MA. A meta-analytic review of the relationship between adolescent risky sexual behavior and impulsivity across gender, age, and race. Clin Psychol Rev. 2014;34:551–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Pharo H, Clark S, Graham M, Gross J, Hayne H. Risky business: executive function, personality, and reckless behavior during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Behav Neurosci. 2011;125:970–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Heitzig MM, Villafuerte S, Weiland BJ, Enoch MA, Burmeister M, Zubieta JK, et al. Effect of GABRA2 genotype on development of incentive-motivation circuitry in a sample enriched for alcoholism risk. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2014;39:3077–86.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Ernst M, Nelson EE, Jazbec S, McClure EB, Monk CS, Leibenluft E, et al. Amygdala and nucleus accumbens in responses to receipt and omission of gains in adults and adolescents. Neuroimage. 2005;25(4):1279–91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Galvan A, Hare TA, Parra CE, Penn J, Voss K, Glover G, et al. Earlier development of the accumbens relative to orbitofrontal cortex might underlie risk-taking behavior in adolescents. J Neurosci. 2006;26(25):6885–92.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Seeman P, Bzowej NH, Guan HC, Bergeron C, Becker LE, Reynolds GP. Human brain dopamine receptors in children and aging adults. Synapse. 1987;1:399–404.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Van Leijenhorst L, Zanolie K, Van Meel CS, Westenberg PM, Rombouts SA, Crone EA. What motivates the adolescent? Brain regions mediating reward sensitivity across adolescence. Cereb Cortex. 2010;20:61–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Raznahan A, Shaw PW, Lerch JP, Clasen LS, Greenstein D, Berman R, et al. Longitudinal four-dimensional mapping of subcortical anatomy in human development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014;111:1592–7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Voon V, Mole TB, Banca P, Porter L, Morris L, Mitchell S, et al. Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behavior. PLoS One. 2014;9:e102419.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Rupp HA, James TW, Ketterson ED, Sengelaub DR, Ditzen B, Heiman JR. Lower sexual interest in postpartum women: relationship to amygdala activation and intranasal oxytocin. Horm Behav. 2013;63:114–21.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Alarcon G, Cservenka A, Rudolph MD, Fair DA, Nagel BJ. Developmental sex differences in resting state functional connectivity of amygdala sub-regions. Neuroimage. 2015;115:235–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Scherf KS, Smyth JM, Delgado MR. The amygdala: an agent of change in adolescent neural networks. Horm Behav. 2013;64:64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Yang CF, Shah NM. Represting sex in the brain, one module at a time. Neuron. 2014;82:261–78.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Lefkowtiz ES, Shearer CL, Gillen MM, Espinosa-Hernandez G. How gendered attitudes relate to women’s and men’s sexual behaviors and beliefs. Sex Cult. 2014;18:833–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Feldstein Ewing SW, Ryman SG, Karoly H, Mayer AR, Ling J, Bryan AD. Protected sexual intercourse and the adolescent brain: gender matters (under review).

  56. Hammerslag LR, Gulley JM. Sex differences in behavior and neural development and their role in adolescent vulnerability to substance use. Behav Brain Res. 2015. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2015.04.008.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Feldstein Ewing SW, Blakemore S-J, Sakhardande A. The effect of alcohol consumption on the adolescent brain: a systematic review of MRI and fMRI studies of alcohol-using youth. Neuroimage. 2014;5:420–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Ryman SG, Bryan AD, Thayer RE, Mayer AR, Ling J, Feldstein Ewing SW. The association between protected sex and the adolescent brain (under review).

  59. Lisdahl KM, Gilbart ER, Wright NE, Shollenbarger S. Dare to delay? The impacts of adolescent alcohol and marijuana use onset on cognition, brain structure, and function. Front Psychiatry. 2013;4:53.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Bryan AD, Schmiege SJ, Magnan RE. Marijuana use and risky sexual behavior among high-risk adolescents: trajectories, risk factors, and event-level relationships. Dev Psychol. 2012;48:1429–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Feldstein Ewing SW, Houck JM, Bryan AD. Examining the brain-behavioral interplay between adolescent substance use, sexual risk, and response inhibition (under review).

  62. Robin L, Dittus P, Whitaker D, Crosby R, Ethier K, Mezoff J, et al. Behavioral interventions to reduce incidence of HIV, STD, and pregnancy among adolescents: a decade in review. J Adolesc Health. 2004;34:3–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Kirby DB, Laris BA, Rolleri LA. Sex and HIV education programs: their impact on sexual behaviors of young people throughout the world. J Adolesc Health. 2007;40:206–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Conner M, McEachan R, Taylor N, O’Hara J, Lawton R. Role of affective attitudes and anticipated affective reactions in predicting health behaviors. Health Psychol. 2015;34:642–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Sheeran P, Gollwitzer PM, Bargh JA. Nonconscious processes and health. Health Psychol. 2013;32:460–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Sniehotta FF, Presseau J, Araujo-Soares V. Time to retire the theory of planed behavior. Health Psychol Rev. 2014;8:1–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Pachankis JE, Rendina HJ, Restar A, Ventuneac A, Grov C, Parsons JT. A minority stress-emotion regulation model of sexual compulsivity among highly sexually active gay and bisexual men. Health Psychol. 2014;34:829–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Simons JS, Maisto SA, Wray TB, Emery NN. Acute effects of intoxication and arousal on approach/avoidance biases toward sexual risk stimuli in heterosexual men. Arch Sex Behav. 2015.

  69. Wehrum-Osinsky S, Klucken T, Kagerer S, Walter B, Hermann A, Stark R. At the second glance: stability of neural responses toward visual sexual stimuli. J Sex Med. 2014;11:2720–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, DC7P, Portland, OR, 97239-3098, USA

    Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing

  2. Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, 1 University of New Mexico, MSC03 2220, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Sephira G. Ryman

  3. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado at Boulder, Muenzinger D244, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309-0345, USA

    Arielle S. Gillman, Rachel E. Thayer & Angela D. Bryan

  4. Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, 594 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309-0345, USA

    Barbara J. Weiland

Authors
  1. Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sephira G. Ryman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arielle S. Gillman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Barbara J. Weiland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rachel E. Thayer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Angela D. Bryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing financial or other conflicts of interest relating to the data included in the manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Feldstein Ewing, S.W., Ryman, S.G., Gillman, A.S. et al. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience of Adolescent Sexual Risk and Alcohol Use. AIDS Behav 20 (Suppl 1), 97–108 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-015-1155-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-015-1155-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation