Youth Behavior: A Changing Landscape Over Time

Over the past 15 years, the behavior of young people has shifted in interesting ways. Researchers wanted to understand how often young people acted out and what caused these actions. They studied twins from different backgrounds and found that bad behavior decreased until 2019, but then increased a bit during the pandemic. The study looked at 2, 054 twins from 1, 027 families. These families were checked up to six times. The researchers found that the environment played a big role in these changes. This means that what happens around young people can influence their behavior more than their genes. This study shows that youth behavior is not fixed. It changes over time and can be affected by big events like a pandemic. Understanding these changes can help create better ways to support young people.