Neural activation during response inhibition is associated with adolescents' frequency of risky sex and substance use

• We evaluated response inhibition with two types of adolescent risk behavior.
• We found negative correlations between substance use and BOLD.
• This negative relationship was in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right insula.
• We found positive correlations between risky sex and BOLD.
• This positive relationship was in the right IFG and left middle occipital gyrus.

ObjectiveIntroduction: While many have identified the important role of the developing brain in youth risk behavior, few have examined the relationship between salient cognitive factors (response inhibition) and different types of real-world adolescent health risk behaviors such as substance use and risky sex, within the same sample of youth.MethodsWe therefore sought to examine these relationships with 95 high-risk youth (ages 14–18; M age = 16.29 years). We examined blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to an fMRI-based cognitive task designed to assess response inhibition (Go/NoGo) and past month risk behavior (number of substance use days; number of unprotected sex days).ResultsFor this sample of youth, we found significant negative correlations between past month substance use and response inhibition within the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right insula (uncorrected p < .001; extent threshold ≥ 10 voxels). In addition, in the same contrast, we found significant positive correlations between past month risky sex and activation within the right IFG and left middle occipital gyrus (uncorrected p < .001; extent threshold ≥ 10 voxels).ConclusionsThese results suggest the particular relevance of these regions in this compelling, albeit slightly different, pattern of response for adolescent risky behaviors.