Repeated alcohol intoxication or exposure to stress appears to change how adolescent brains respond to danger. These changes persist into adulthood. In a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, adolescent mice repeatedly exposed to alcohol or stress were less cautious when evaluating risky situations and more readily engaged in risky behaviors in early adulthood. These results suggest that adolescence is a critical time when alcohol and stress can reshape an individual’s decision-making strategies and may provide insight into the behavioral consequences of early-life experiences.
This study sought to understand how alcohol or stress exposure in late adolescence affects decision-making processes related to risk in adulthood. Researchers periodically administered alcohol or a substance that activates a stress response to mice in late adolescence and then examined how the mice behaved in new, potentially risky environments after they reached adulthood.
Mice that had not been exposed to alcohol or the pharmacological stressor displayed risk-assessment behaviors before exploring potentially dangerous environments. By contrast, mice exposed to alcohol or the stressor were more likely to explore the environment with reduced risk assessment despite the potential danger. Anxiety-like behavior remained largely unchanged, suggesting a shift in decision-making processes toward higher-risk activity.
Late adolescence is a crucial developmental period during which brain regions responsible for cognitive control and decision-making continue to mature. These findings suggest that repeated activation of the stress response system during this period, whether from alcohol or a pharmacological stressor, can alter risk-assessment strategies, a key component of decision-making. These alterations in late adolescence can result in a tendency toward reduced self-protective risk evaluation and risk-avoidant behavior in early adulthood.
This study provides important insights into the influence and long-term effects of alcohol and stress exposure on cognitive and behavioral development during adolescence. The study authors suggest that further research exploring other aspects of decision-making, impulsivity or risk evaluation might provide a more complete picture.
More information
Beatriz Deo Sorigotto et al, Alcohol or Stress Exposure During Late Adolescence Impairs Risk Assessment Later in Life, Disrupting the Ethological Structure of Behavior in Mice, Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research (2026). DOI: 10.1111/acer.70328
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