in_the_media

What Tsarnaev’s friends tell us about adolescents

Media Outlet: 

Christian Science Monitor

The arrests of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ‘s three college friends could be a chance for adults to help young people sort through issues of friendship and loyalty, as well as moral and legal obligations. Young people often “do things inconsistent with what they know to be right or wrong...[and] they show especially poor judgment when they are with their peers,” said Temple psychologist Laurence Steinberg. Research has shown that when adolescents are with their peers, they “pay a disproportionate amount of attention to the potential rewards of a decision and not to the cost,” he said.