Adolescent health is rarely one bad choice — it is a balance. Risk factors and protective factors press on the same reward-sensitive, still-maturing brain, and resilience is what happens when protection outweighs risk. Load each pan and watch the scale tip.
A balance scale
Risk load0
Protection load0
Weigh the balancetap factors to load each pan
Two forces, one brainThe adolescent brain's reward and social systems mature before the prefrontal control system that reins them in. Risk factors exploit that gap; protective factors buffer it. Tap any factor to see how it works.