- Posted June 12, 2026
Have A Risk-Taking Teen? This Brain Chemical Might Be Responsible, Researchers Say
Trying weed, alcohol or smoking. Getting into fights. Attempting dangerous "Jackass"-style stunts. Dating that skeevy guy.
Ever wonder why some teens are driven to do dumb things?
It could be because their developing brains are lacking in an important neurochemical, a new study says.
Risk-taking teens might be compensating for low levels of dopamine in their brains, researchers reported June 11 in the journal Nature Communications.
Dopamine plays an important role in the brain’s reward system, providing a sense of pleasure and motivation when it’s released, researchers said in background notes.
“Our results suggest that, for some teens, risk-taking may act as a way to ‘get the system going’ when dopamine-related reward biology is lower at the start of adolescence,” said lead investigator Ashley Parr, a research assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.
“This finding is a big shift for the field because many people would assume higher dopamine activity would be linked to more substance use,” Parr said in a news release.
For the study, researchers tracked a group of more than 800 teenagers who were taking part in a long-term study of alcohol use among adolescents and young adults.
Results showed that teens who had lower levels of dopamine in the brain’s reward system were more likely to try substances like weed or alcohol, compared to those with higher dopamine.
But as the teens got older and their dopamine systems matured, their substance use tended to decrease.
This set of teens — about 1 in 4 (26%) of the total group — fit a “youth peak” pattern in which they had increasing substance use earlier in adolescence followed by declines in their mid-20s.
“Youth peak” teens had significantly lower dopamine levels than all other teenagers at the start. As they got older, their brain dopamine levels steadily but rapidly increased, coinciding with their declining substance use.
“The key question isn’t who experiments, but who continues, and who escalates their use into adulthood,” Parr said. “By tracking teens over time, we were able to pinpoint early brain and behavioral markers that help distinguish temporary, developmentally typical experimentation from patterns that may signal greater long‑term risk.”
Senior researcher Beatriz Luna, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, said risk-taking is a normal part of being a teenager.
"For most kids it’s a phase that peaks and then eases,” she said in a news release.
“Parents can help by steering that drive for new, rewarding experiences toward positive social outlets like team sports, so teens can chase that ‘reward’ in healthier places,” Luna said.
More information
The Cleveland Clinic has more on dopamine.
SOURCES: University of Pittsburgh, news release, June 11, 2026; Nature Communications, June 11, 2026
