The central role of impulsive tendencies in the emergence of early risk behaviors is consistent with findings observed by others (Block et al., 1988; Crawford et al., 2003; Wong et al., 2006). It is also consistent with the theorizing of Chambers et al. (2003) and Spear (2000), who suggest that adolescence is the period when the rise in activity of the dopamine system encourages experimentation with novel and exciting behaviors. Our finding that age was positively related to impulsivity and that impulsivity mediated the relation between age and risk behavior is also consistent with this explanation.
