Why do you think a large portion of YA novels are written in 1st person?

I like to read and write in third person, but my husband is the opposite. I generally don't like first person, it is too easy to mess up. it feels flatter to me, third person tends to have more depth. I think most ya books are written in first because the author is trying to make the character more relatable, and teenagers like to relate to people, it endears them to the character and produces an emotional response. Which is a nice fallback if your writing isn't good enough to do that on its own.