| Course | SBS 200 Human Development |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Adolescent development paper |
| Length | About 1,042 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Psychology and Addiction Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for SBS 200 Module 4
Three Friends in the Back Seat: Peers, the Teenage Brain and a Sixteen-Year-Old's First Speeding Ticket
Student Name
Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University
SBS 200: Human Development
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three Friends in the Back Seat: Peers, the Teenage Brain and a Sixteen-Year-Old's First Speeding Ticket
Three weeks after my son Isaiah got his driver's license, a police officer stopped him on a county road going sixty in a forty-mile-an-hour zone. Three teammates from his basketball team were in the car. Isaiah is the careful one in our family; when he drives alone or with his father or me, he signals early, stops fully and drives under the limit. When we asked him what happened, he said, "I don't know. Everyone was laughing and talking, and I just didn't notice how fast I was going." This paper uses research on adolescent development to understand what happened and to decide what our family should do. Isaiah and the rest of us are composite characters; the research is not.
What Changes in Adolescence
Adolescence begins with puberty, which brings rapid physical growth and sexual maturation. Cognitively, teenagers become capable of abstract and hypothetical thinking, and by mid-adolescence their reasoning in calm situations approaches that of adults. Socially, peers become more important, identity becomes a central task and independence from parents grows. Driving is a symbol of that independence, and in our community, getting a license at sixteen is a milestone families celebrate.
The Effect of Peers
Gardner and Steinberg (2005) designed an experiment to test how peers affect risk taking at different ages. Adolescents, young adults and adults played a computer driving game that rewarded pushing through amber signals and penalized the wrecks that sometimes followed. Some participants played alone, others with two friends watching. They also completed questionnaires about risk preferences and risky decision making. Peers' presence increased risk taking for all ages, but the effect was much larger for adolescents and young adults than for adults. Adolescents playing with friends watching took substantially more risks than adolescents playing alone.
The finding fits Isaiah exactly. His judgment when alone is sound; in the game's terms, he stops for yellow lights. With three friends in the car, something changed.
Why the Teenage Brain Responds to Peers
Steinberg (2008) proposed an explanation based on brain development. A socioemotional system, centered in brain regions that process rewards, becomes much more active around puberty, making adolescents more sensitive to rewards, especially social rewards such as peers' approval. A second set of circuits, based in the front of the brain and responsible for planning ahead and holding back impulses, keeps developing slowly through the teen years and into the twenties. The gap between the early rise in reward sensitivity and the slower development of control helps explain why risk taking peaks in adolescence. Peers' presence, Steinberg argued, activates the reward system further, making the rewards of risky choices loom larger in the moment.
This is not a claim that teenagers cannot reason. Isaiah knows the speed limit and the reasons for it. The research suggests that in exciting social situations, the pull of the reward system can outrun his ability to apply what he knows.
Storm and Stress Reconsidered
A common belief holds that adolescence is a time of turmoil for everyone. Arnett (1999) reviewed the evidence on this storm and stress view. He found that arguments with parents, swings in mood and risky choices do rise during the teen years compared with childhood and adulthood, but that they are far from universal; many adolescents experience little turmoil. He also found that storm and stress varies across cultures, being less common in traditional cultures in which adolescents have more defined roles and stronger ties to family, and he emphasized individual differences within any culture.
Arnett's review is a useful check on the explanation. Isaiah is not a reckless teenager; he is an ordinarily responsible one who made a risky choice in a situation the research identifies as risky. Our family's response should fit that.
Influences on Isaiah's Driving
| Source | Influence | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Brain | Reward sensitivity rising faster than self-control | Steinberg |
| Peers | Friends' presence increases risk taking | Gardner and Steinberg |
| Family | Parents' rules and modeling of driving | Family expectations; graduated licensing |
| Culture | A community that treats the license as freedom | Arnett on cultural variation |
What Our Family Will Do
Our state's graduated licensing law already limits teenage passengers in the first months of driving, a provision designed for exactly the risk Gardner and Steinberg identified. We had not enforced it strictly, because Isaiah seemed responsible. Our family plan now follows its logic. For six months, Isaiah may not drive with teenage passengers. After that, one passenger at a time for another six months. We wrote the agreement down and all three of us signed it. We also talked about how it felt in the car that night, not to shame him, but to help him notice the pull next time.
The Role of Family and Community
Research on peers can make parents feel powerless, but families remain part of the picture. Teenagers whose parents know where they are, who they are with and what the family's rules are tend to take fewer serious risks, and parents' own driving teaches more than their lectures. In our community, a license is celebrated as a step toward adulthood, and Isaiah's friends' parents rarely limit passengers. Changing our own family's rules means accepting that Isaiah may feel embarrassed in front of friends for a while. We decided that cost was worth it, and Isaiah, once the ticket's sting faded, agreed that driving alone for a few months was better than losing the car.
Reflection
When I was sixteen, my parents told me that teenagers are reckless, and I believed it about myself. The research gives me a better way to talk to my son. He is not reckless; he is a teenager whose brain and social world make some situations riskier than they look. That understanding lets our family respond with structure rather than distrust.
Conclusion
Isaiah's speeding ticket came from a situation, not a character flaw. Gardner and Steinberg showed that peers' presence makes adolescents take more risks, Steinberg explained why the teenage brain is especially sensitive to that influence and Arnett showed that adolescent turmoil is real but not universal or the same across cultures. A family plan that limits passengers while trust and skill grow fits what research says about adolescence.
References
Arnett, J. J. (1999). Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered. American Psychologist, 54(5), 317-326. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.5.317
Gardner, M., & Steinberg, L. (2005). Peer influence on risk taking, risk preference, and risky decision making in adolescence and adulthood: An experimental study. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 625-635. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.625
Steinberg, L. (2008). A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Review, 28(1), 78-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002
SBS 200 Module 4 instructions, in plain terms
SBS 200 turns to adolescence in its fourth module, and the task commonly calls for a teenage behavior to be explained through research while keeping family, culture and the writer's own life in view. Your classroom's Module 4 directions take priority, and this family is invented. Start by laying out the physical, thinking and social changes of the teen years. Explain a specific behavior using research. Consider the influence of peers, family and culture. Weigh common beliefs about adolescence against evidence. Propose responses that fit the research, and reference each study in APA 7 form. Consider whether the behavior reflects the teenager's character or the situation, since the answer changes the right response.
How this SBS 200 Module 4 example is built
The writer's son, Isaiah, drove carefully on his own and with his parents but was stopped going twenty miles over the limit with three teammates in the car. The paper describes the physical, cognitive and social changes of adolescence. Gardner and Steinberg (Developmental Psychology) report that adolescents in a simulated driving task took more risks and made riskier decisions when peers were present, while adults were barely affected. Steinberg (Developmental Review) explains the pattern through a socioemotional system sensitive to rewards and to peers that develops faster than cognitive control. Arnett (American Psychologist) tempers the stereotype of teenagers as reckless by showing variation across individuals and cultures. A table sorts influences into brain, peers, family and culture. The plan follows the logic of graduated licensing: no teen passengers for six months, then one, with the family agreement written down.
SBS 200 Module 4 rubric: what earns full marks
Adolescent development papers earn credit for accurate explanations of developmental change and for applying research to a specific behavior without stereotyping teenagers. This example uses an experiment, a theoretical review and a critical reconsideration of storm and stress, which together explain the behavior and limit overgeneralization. It connects the research to the family's response, showing why a rule about passengers fits the evidence better than a lecture about danger. The reflection respects the teenager as a person whose judgment alone was sound, which matches the research. Tying the family rule to the state's graduated licensing law shows how research already shapes public policy.
SBS 200 Module 4 help: mistakes that cost marks
Adolescence papers often describe teenagers as irrational or say their brains are not finished, which oversimplifies the research. Explain the specific systems and how peers affect them. Another weakness is ignoring culture and individual differences; many teenagers do not take serious risks. Use studies with clear designs and report what they found. Connect the explanation to the specific behavior in your example. Finally, propose responses that change the situation, such as who is in the car, rather than only telling teenagers to be careful. Involving the teenager in setting the rule, as the family in this example does, makes the plan more likely to hold.
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SBS 200 Module 4 questions, answered
What does SBS 200 Module 4 usually ask for?
Aspen's SBS 200 covers adolescence in this module, so explaining an aspect of adolescent development or behavior with research, family, culture and experience is typical. Check your Module 4 prompt.
Why do teenagers take more risks with friends?
Gardner and Steinberg found peers' presence increased adolescents' risk taking in a driving game far more than adults'.
Is adolescence always a time of storm and stress?
Arnett found storm and stress more common in adolescence than at other ages but not universal, and it varies across cultures.
Where can I find a free SBS 200 Module 4 sample paper?
Free on this page: a paper on adolescent risk taking, explaining a composite sixteen-year-old's speeding with friends in the car.
What is graduated driver licensing?
A system that gives new drivers privileges in stages, often limiting teenage passengers and night driving at first.