BodiMojo Teen Health Blog – Teenage Nutrition, Fitness, Stress, Relationships & More

Yesterday evening my 17-year-old son coasted into the driveway on his bike after a long day at school and work.

He had on headphones—and no bike helmet.

I just looked at him and said: “Again?!”

We have been fighting this battle now for months. He doesn’t like to wear his helmet. He likes to listen to music during the “boring” bike ride. I tell him what he’s doing is extremely dangerous: not only could he suffer a severe head injury if he falls, but because he’s listening to music, he can’t hear cars. As these conversations have multiplied, I have tried using the scariest “scare tactic” I can think of.

“You could become a VEGETABLE,” I say. “Is that what you want?”

Typically during these conversations, he just looks at me, silent. I can tell that he is just waiting for me to stop talking and has no intention of wearing his helmet.

Sometimes I ask myself: What could he possibly be thinking???

According to a recent news item about teen brains, he may not be thinking much at all—he may just be FEELING.

Researchers from the University of Texas have found that teens tend to be more sensitive to rewards than either children or adults.

In other words—if the research is on target—my son gets a greater amount of satisfaction from listening to music while biking than I would if I were biking. And the pleasure he gets from that outweighs the risk from riding without a helmet.

Psychology and neurobiology researcher Russell Poldrack and his colleagues report that teens’ risky behavior—whether it’s experimenting with drugs, drinking and driving on prom night, having unsafe sex, or riding a bike without a helmet—can actually be traced to the role of dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter. Apparently, teens get a charge out of risky behavior because of a surge in dopamine, which is known to influence peoples’ motivation to seek rewards.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the next time I see my son roll home without a helmet, I’m going to feel any better just because I know there’s some dopamine swirling around in his brain leading him to make a risky decision. But maybe I’ll tell him about the dopamine thing. And maybe, if I’m lucky, the good-judgment part of his brain—which I know is there somewhere—will convince him to wear a helmet.

Maybe.