By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 23, 2014

A new study suggests a display of poor decision making during primary school increases the risk of interpersonal and behavioral difficulties during adolescence.

However, experts view decision-making as a skill and something that can be taught during youth.

Joshua Weller, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University found that when a 10 or 11 year-old shows poor judgment, the potential for high-risk health behavior in their teen years escalates.

These findings suggest that less-refined decision skills early in life could potentially be a harbinger for problem behavior in the future, said Weller.

If poor decision-making patterns can be identified while children are still young, intervention to improve skills can be effective.

Often a variety of mentors parents, educators, and health professionals can effectively help children enhance these skills, said Weller.

This research underscores that decision-making is a skill and it can be taught, he said.The earlier you teach these skills, the potential for improving outcomes increases.

The study was recently published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

For the investigation, researchers wanted to better understand how pre-adolescent childrens decision-making skills predicted later behavior.

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Kids Poor Decision-Making May Predict Teen Issues