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One day your teenager is full of charm, helping you with a chore and chitchatting like you are best friends. Just several hours later, he's angry and sullen. Are hormones the explanation for this Jekyll and Hyde personality? Experts now say that although hormones contribute to teenage mood swings, the bigger culprit is the teenage brain, or rather, their lack of brain development. In 2004, the first scientific research involving MRI brain scans of teenagers demonstrated that the neuron connections affecting emotional, mental and physical skills in adolescents are still being formed. The studies indicated that the prefrontal cortex (the decision-making portion of the brain) is still developing while the amygdala (the emotion center of the brain) is in over-drive. The end result is that many teens are often impulsive, emotional and poor decision-makers. "The teenage brain is a work in progress; it's basically still undergoing construction, and once parents understand the specifics of these construction zones, it helps them understand why their teens act the way they do," says David Walsh, psychologist, former high school counselor and author of "Why Do They Act That Way?: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen" (Free Press, 2004). An immature prefrontal cortex and amygdala help explain why an intelligent adolescent will sometimes do something completely out of character. "We often scratch our heads and wonder how could such a smart kid do this, but it has nothing to do with being smart," Walsh says. "The thinking part of their brain is working fine; it's the emotional regulation center that's under construction." To make matters worse, myelination (the process whereby myelin, the brain's white fatty matter envelopes nerve fibers, thus making them more efficient) is not complete until young adulthood. Beth Cauffman, a developmental psychologist at UC Irvine, likes to compare the roads more, or less, traveled. "For many teens, it's as if they are driving down this bumpy road having difficulty making the right decisions, whereas in adults who have increased myelination, they're going down a fast highway and have strong cognitive processing skills." As teens grow older and myelination is complete, their brain activity tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more rational perceptions. The hormone thing While teens' brains are under construction, they are also barraged with raging hormones, which intensifies urges, emotions, mood swings and insecurities. During puberty, in both sexes, surges of testosterone swell the amygdala, causing feelings of fear and anger. Although this reaction of the amygdala is especially pronounced in boys, it may account for the rise in aggressiveness and irritability seen in both sexes at adolescence. Shifting levels of estrogen and progesterone in girls can cause extreme emotional fluctuations. Out-of-control hormones also overtax the teen's developing prefrontal cortex, which puts them at the mercy of extreme impulses that they are not always capable of controlling. "If you'd compare the teenage brain to an automobile," explains Walsh, "it's as if the gas pedal is to the floor and the brakes are on back order." Research has shown that in most cases the teenage brain is not fully developed until age 25. Interestingly, this is the age when auto insurance rates decrease for young people. "Insurance companies have known for some time that teens are twice as likely to have accidents than the rest of the population," notes Walsh. Do they care? Two research studies published in September 2006 concluded that the undeveloped brain explains why teens are often oblivious to other people's feelings and seem slow to predict how another person might feel in a given situation. In one study, teens were asked a series of questions involving "What would you do?" scenarios. As they were asked these questions, their brains were scanned with MRI. The results indicated that the ability to think about intentions changes during adolescence. In the other study, researchers found that adolescents were slower than adults to answer questions about how a fictional character might feel in specific situations. The new findings suggest that this could be the reason many problems exist between teens and their parents. If you do not state your exact feelings and desires, teens may not understand you. You may think your anger or disappointment is obvious to your child, but this is not always the case. Cauffman stresses that these neurobiological factors, along with psychological-social issues, explain why many teens have difficulty saying "no" to certain things, whether it involves alcohol/drugs, cheating, shoplifting, or even going with friends to get a tattoo. "If a group of friends is passing around a joint and then someone asks your son if he wants to smoke, he probably knows he should say 'no,' but in the heat of the moment, given the emotional issues related to peer pressure, he may decide it's easier for him to smoke the joint." Some parents may wonder why they have not encountered these experiences with their teenager. Walsh points out that there is no normal scenario for teenagers. "Kids are individuals with their own temperaments, personal histories and peer groups, which all have their own influences. So every kid goes through this in his or her unique way - some go through it with a lot of drama and adventure and others seemingly sail through it with fewer bumps and bruises." But regardless of how their brain development affects their behavior, most teens exhibit similar habits when it comes to sleep. That's because at puberty the sleep/wake cycle changes because the secretion of melatonin (the sleep hormone) from the pineal gland in the brain occurs approximately one hour later in teens. "The teenager ends up not getting tired as early due to this change in the brain, and they're also exposed to numerous stimuli, such as lights, TV, homework, cell phones and music, which detract from sleep," says Kauffman. "Not only do teens need to stay up because of homework and social demands, they also have the ability to stay up." The tired hours Due to early school starts, the average teenager is forced to wake up by 6 a.m. on weekdays, even though melatonin is still being secreted. This is why teens are so groggy and irritable on weekday mornings. They actually need more than nine hours of sleep but they rarely get that except on weekends. Lack of sleep not only contributes to a teen's moodiness, impulsivity and depression, it also impairs memory and learning. With all the recent talk about the undeveloped teenage brain, many psychologists like Kauffman worry that too many excuses for inappropriate adolescent behavior will be linked to these neurobiological limitations. "Parents may say, 'It's my kid's brain,' when in fact they might have created an environment at home that is contributing to their teenager's behavior. In the end, parents have the most influence with their kids." Walsh says that the three best things a parent can offer their teen during this important stage of development are connection, guidance (which involves setting limitations and consequences), and most importantly, love. "Parents need to remember that loving a teenager often results in a delayed gratification. The reward comes when they turn out to be the kind of adult that we can be proud of." Carol Daus writes OC Family Magazine's Teen Years column. |
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