Understanding the biological roots of poor decision-making is important in dealing with our addicted loved ones; researchers are also finding decision-making an important aspect of addiction, one that holds possibilities for recovery. For instance, a new study from Yale indicates that addiction could be a developmental disorder occurring during the teen years. Impulse and risky behavior are likely to occur more often than restraint in teenagers because the circuitry of a teenager’s brain leans more toward repeating novel experiences than the mechanisms that inhibit them. The study shows that at this developmental stage, the repeated compulsive behavior may have profound and lasting – even permanent – effects.