Don’t blame your teen when they misbehave

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The disconcerting behavior of human adolescents may seem like a unique aspect of human adolescence.

But the strops and bravado may be a throwback to our primate ancestors, with young people returning to their “inner chimpanzee” during the tumultuous time of puberty, scientists believe.

A study of young chimpanzees found that they exhibit the same risky behavior and mood swings as human teenagers.

Adolescent chimpanzees face somewhat the same psychological storm as human adolescents, said lead researcher Dr. Alexandra Rosati, associate professor of psychology and anthropology at the University of Michigan.

Our results show that several key features of human adolescent psychology are also seen in our closest primate relatives.

Chimpanzees can live to be 50 years old and reach adolescence between about 8 and 15 years old.

Risky option for adolescent humans and chimpanzees

Much like humans, chimpanzees show rapid changes in hormone levels during adolescence, begin to form new bonds with peers, show increased aggression, and compete for social status.

To find out if other aspects of their behavior mirrored that of human adolescents, the researchers played two games with 40 wild-born chimpanzees at a sanctuary in the Republic of Congo.

In the first test, the chimpanzees had to choose between a box always containing peanuts or trying their luck with a box containing either a slice of cucumber or a slice of banana.

The chimpanzees could play it safe and choose the peanuts, or bet on a delicious banana, at the risk of ending up with an unappetizing piece of cucumber.

Over multiple rounds of testing, adolescent chimps were 55% more likely than adults to choose the risky option.

This suggests that, just like adolescent humans, adolescent chimpanzees will also seek out the riskier option if there is a greater reward on offer.

In the second test, the chimpanzees’ “delayed gratification” skills were tested by allowing the chimpanzees to receive a slice of banana immediately or wait one minute to receive three slices.

Risky behavior “deeply biologically anchored”

Human teenagers tend to be more impulsive than adults, so they would be more likely to receive the immediate reward.

Although young chimps delayed their reward about as much as adults, they threw more tantrums during the one-minute delay than adult chimps.

This suggests that, unlike humans, adolescent chimpanzees are not more impulsive than adults, but they handle loss as badly as human adolescents.

Previous research indicates that chimpanzees are quite patient compared to other animals, and our study shows that their ability to delay gratification is already mature at a fairly young age, unlike humans, Rosati said.

Risky behavior in adolescent chimpanzees and humans appears to be deeply rooted biologically, but the increase in impulsive behavior may be specific to human adolescents.

The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

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