Universiteit Amsterdam: UVA: Checklists, Projects, Summaries & Vacancies

There is increased risk-taking in adolescence. Adolescent risk-taking may occur because of an imbalance in brain development with a protracted development of the cognitive control system relative to a high reactivity in the reward system. Real-life risk taking typically occurs when peers are present. Adolescents spend more time in the presence of peers and become more sensitive to the effects of peers.

Peer pressure enhances reactivity in the brain’s reward circuitry. This indicates an influence of the presence of peers on reward valence. The relationship between lower resistance to peer-influence and increased behavioural risk-taking is mediated by the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). This is one of the core regions associated with social-cognitive processes (e.g. perspective taking). This indicates an important role of social-cognitive processes during peer influence on risk taking.

Factors related to the explanation of adolescent risk-taking are cognitive control processes (1), reactivity of

Technology-based interventions are effective for preventing and treating substance use disorders. It is particularly suited for youth. They are relevant at any stage in the development of a substance-use disorder and they provide solutions to existing problems of traditional interventions.

Youth who use substances are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (1), impaired cognitive functioning (2), major depressive episodes (3), poor educational attainment (4), involvement in the criminal justice system (5) and having a substance use disorder later in life (6).

Intervention strategies to prevent the development of a substance use disorder include universal prevention (1), selective prevention (2) and treatment (3). The goal of universal prevention is to prevent substance use initiation. Selective prevention involves identifying high-risk youth and intervening to stop problematic substance using behaviours that may escalate into a disorder. The goal of treatment is to intervene with individuals who meet the

Multimodal treatment approaches are recommended for the treatment of ADHD. The first-line intervention, especially for severe cases, is medication. However, medication has some limitations. Some patients report a partial or no response to the medication and the long-term effectiveness is unknown. Furthermore, it may not improve important aspects of functioning (e.g. academic achievement). Adverse effects are common and treatment compliance to medication can be low, especially in adolescence.

Another possible treatment for ADHD is behavioural intervention. The results of these behavioural interventions are contested, as most ratings are made by people close to the intervention (e.g. parents). This could inflate the efficacy of the intervention. The found effectiveness of the interventions could be due to biased unblinded raters (1), interventions increase parental tolerance for ADHD symptoms (2), the used blinded measurements were less valid than most proximal measurements (3) and the intervention effects did not generalize

Mindful parenting refers to paying attention to your child and parenting in a particular way; intentionally, here and now and non-judgementally. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) targets the patterns of thinking activated by dysphoria (i.e. the association between low mood and negative repetitive thinking). MBCT appears effective in doing this and reduces the likelihood of developing another depressive episode. Mindfulness-based approaches appear effective in the treatment of disorders where rumination plays a central role.

It is possible that attentional processes are the key mechanism underlying change in mindfulness. However, it is not clear how mindfulness affects attention. It has been shown to improve executive attention in general. Meditation experience is negatively associated with emotional interference (i.e. disengaging attention from emotional stimuli). The ability to disengage from unexpected and emotional stimuli and attention conflict monitoring improve as a result of meditation practice.

Mindfulness-based parenting interventions may