Magnitude of skin conductance response and habituation rates of 26 young adults (22 to 30 yr.) and 26 13-yr.-olds were compared for two conditions, neutral (500-Hz tone) and stressful (woman's scream). Both age groups exhibited significantly greater magnitude of response and required significantly more trials to habituate to the stressful stimulus. Adolescents required significantly more trials than adults to habituate to both neutral and stressful stimuli. Implications for the study of adolescents' emotional reactivity were discussed.
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