The Adolescent Brain: Mystery Solved?

The Adolescent Brain: Mystery Solved?

By Carla Turner, Parenting Coalition Member

Think back (for some of us, WAAAAY back) to what it was like - - adolescence.  Leaps of physical growth that are sometimes painful in the literal sense, simmering hormones that seem to have a life of their own and whisper demands that are entirely contradictory to everything your parents ever said, a posse of friends who are flailing around in the same Petri dish of a social, biological and hormonal chemistry experiment.  And the capper?  A still-developing brain that hasn't quite reached the point where it can guide decision making with calm, reasoned judgment. 

These aren't character flaws; it's the way kids ARE, and the way it has always been.  Relatively recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology have given researchers new insight into teen brain development, which the National Institute of Health refers to as "...a work in progress."  In 1999, the National Institute of Mental Health reported conclusions from a longitudinal study in which children's brains were scanned via MRI every two years to observe patterns of growth and development.  The NIMH researchers noted a significant surge in production of gray matter - - the part of the brain that is responsible for thinking functions - - correlated to the onset of puberty.  When a team of UCLA researchers took the NIMH brain scans and configured them as four-dimensional, time-lapse images, it became possible to watch the virtual evolution of children's gray matter from age 4 to age 20.  The UCLA team found that gray matter develops first at the rear of the brain and progressively moves forward, with the frontal lobe not reaching full maturity until the mid-20s.  So, the next time your teen is provoking you, feel free to yell, "Well, you only have a partial BRAIN!!!"  OK, don't yell that, even if it's kinda true.  That missing link, the frontal lobe, influences how much effort someone is willing to invest in a task, and the ability of an individual to think through the consequences of any given decision, and the capacity of that person to control impulses and reactions.

The greatest thing about this research may be that it lets us all off the hook a bit (but not completely) - - adolescent risk-taking behavior and lack of impulse control are natural responses to a natural process.  Rebellious, challenging teens aren't bad people, and those teens' custodial figures aren't bad parents....it's just the way the organism is constructed.  And there's also reaffirmed hope that the maturation process will END, which is a relief for parents and teens alike.  It's a challenging place to be, adolescence - - logically, you know what you SHOULD be doing, but almost everything within you screams out for you to do just the opposite.  Yo, adults - - remember back and try to hang onto that compassion and empathy.

So, we know what we have to work with.  We have adolescents who are socially, biologically, hormonally and neurologically predisposed to experiment and take risks and challenge the status quo.  We have adults who ideally are in possession of fully developed gray matter complete with the capability to control impulses, temper, reactions, judgments.  The smart money is on the adults to create protective frameworks (such as after-school supervision, driving regulations and service activities that reinforce character and ethics) around our community's children, within which they can test their limits and practice their critical thinking skills and learn to accept responsibility for their actions and hone that internal locus of control.  Yes, adolescents need to feel the consequences of their actions; but it's up to us as adults to minimize the opportunties for those consequencese to be fatal or life-altering.  We can do it.....WE have fully developed brains!