interesting to learn that adolescents and adults take the same level of precaution unless there is an adolescent audience (in which case, yep, the adolescents get reckless). would be really interesting if someone did a study on introverted and extroverted adolescents. although i wasn't really aware of it then, i was a pretty introverted teen and was baffled when my peers were saying they were, above all, grateful for their peers. this, to me, was a shortsighted and unimaginable choice when we were facing and benefiting by so many other things as teenagers.

i was just telling dh the other day that i was always the good girl. the good daughter, the good sunday school student, the good student, the good sister. good, obedience, straight-shooting, patient and always praised as such. (i think in the long run this significantly stunted my growth because i didn't develop that hunger that other people did to prove themselves and find a place where they belonged. i belonged agreeably and quietly in the pocket of all the adults in my life that were responsible for me. it kind of neutered my talents and i remained convinced this is why all geniuses are rebellious, troubled people.)

i of course had friends and they were at times a huge part of my life but it wasn't until, over the summer before 8th grade, i got contacts and dyed my hair blonde, that i became hot over night and started doing reckless things, mainly, fittingly, dating around a lot and eventually getting with my punk high school boyfriend. that little bit of beauty really came to define the rebellions i did take up (boys).

in general though, i didn't usually keep an "adolescent audience" or a lot of friends or spend a lot of time with my peers and, based on this article, is probably a big reason i was a "good girl". since introversion and extroversion is biological it's pretty interesting to think that people might be biologically predispositioned to be "good girls" and "good boys" (which, let me be the first to say, is not what it's cracked up to be and actually, again, has long term disadvantages).