Many teenagers struggle with impulse control, especially when it comes to sex, and a new study found individual differences in working memory could predict both early and unprotected sexual activity.
Working memory is the system that allows individuals to draw on previously-learned information and use it to make decisions, the Society for Research in Child Development reported. The recent study found adolescents with weaker working memories tended to have more trouble controlling their impulsive urges and taking into account the consequences of their behavior.
In the past, impulsivity during adolescence has been linked to lack of self-control to risky behaviors, but this new research focuses on cognitive traits such as the ability to concentrate and block out distractions.
"We extended previous findings by showing for the first time that individuals who have pre-existing weakness in working memory are more likely to have difficulty controlling impulsive tendencies in early to mid-adolescence," said Atika Khurana, assistant professor of counseling psychology and human services at the University of Oregon, who led the study. "Furthermore, changes in these impulsive tendencies are associated with early and unprotected sex in adolescents, even after taking into account parents' socioeconomic status, involvement, and monitoring of sexual behavior."
The study followed 360 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 for two years to monitor the effects of working memory (measured at the beginning of the study) on self-control and sexually risky behavior. Working memory was assessed through exercises that measured the individual's ability to focus on information relevant to a task. Impulsivity was measured through a behavioral task that assessed the individual's ability to delay gratification, as well as self-reported sensation-seeking behavior. The adolescents were also surveyed on their experiences with risky sexual activity.
The findings showed youths with weaker working memories at the start of the study tended to report larger increases in impulsive tendencies, which in turn raised their likelihood of participating in early or risky sexual activity. In these individuals, the desire to have sex in a given moment outweighed their feat of risks such as sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. High sensation seeking was not found to be linked to weak working memory or sexual behavior.
"Our findings identify alternative ways to intervene preventively," said Dan Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the lead investigator of the longitudinal project on which the study was based. "For adolescents who have weak ability to override strong impulses, improvements in working memory may provide a pathway to greater control over risky sexual behavior. Certain parenting practices, characterized by nurturing and responsive involvement, have been shown to support the development of working memory. Interventions could aim to strengthen these types of parenting practices as well."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Child Development.
