Teachers, parents, and children alike have always wondered why teenagers behave the way they do, searching for a reason for their erratic and eccentric actions which are seemingly random and unpredictable. Scientists believe they have made breakthroughs regarding this. Let’s get into it.

Foremost among the many features of an adolescent brain is its ability to change in response to the environment by modifying the communications networks to connect the different brain regions. This special changeability, or plasticity, often is a double-edged sword. It allows teenagers to make vast strides in communication and socialization. But the morphing landscape also makes them vulnerable to dangerous behaviors and serious mental disorders. The most recent studies conducted by cognitive psychologists strongly indicate that the riskiest behaviors arise from a mismatch of the limbic system which drives emotions within us and the maturation of networks in the prefrontal cortex. This understanding gives parents a better idea of when to intervene in their children’s lives. A child’s taste in clothing, music, or political beliefs often differ from their parents in these teenage years or a desire of a child to partake in possibly dangerous activities such as skateboarding should be seen as a manifestation of their social anxieties and peer pressure.

For the longest time the adolescent brain has been perceived as broken immature or contributing to dangerous behavior however Groundbreaking research in the past 10 years, shows that this view is wrong. The teen brain is not defective. It is not a half-baked adult brain, either. It has been forged by evolution to function differently from that of a child or an adult. The plasticity of networks linking brain regions—and not the growth of those regions, as previously thought—is key to eventually behaving like an adult.

Brain development, like other complex processes in nature, proceeds by a one- two punch of overproduction, followed by selective elimination. Like

Michelangelo's David emerging from a block of marble, many cognitive advances arise during a sculpting process in which unused or maladaptive brain cell connections are pruned away. Frequently used connections, meanwhile, are strengthened. Although pruning and strengthening occur throughout our lives, during adolescence the balance shifts to elimination, as the brain tailors itself to the demands of its environment.

The prefrontal cortex is also a key component of circuitry involved in social cognition such as—our ability to navigate complex social relationships, discern friend from foe, and find protection within groups. The prefrontal cortex functions are not absent in teenagers; they are just not as good as they are going to get. Because they do not fully mature until a person's 20s hence, teens may have trouble controlling impulses or judging risks and rewards. What most determines teen behavior, then, is not so much the late development of executive functioning or the early onset of emotional behavior but a mismatch in the timing of the two developments. If young teens are emotionally propelled by the limbic system, yet the prefrontal control is not as good as it is going to get until, say, age 25, that leaves a decade of time during which imbalances between emotional and contemplative thinking can reign.

Adolescence is the peak time of emergence for several types of mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, psychosis, and substance abuse. Surprisingly, 50 percent of the mental illnesses people experience emerge by age 14, and 75 percent start by age 24.

So what can doctors, parents, teachers, and teens themselves do about these pitfalls?

For clinicians, the paucity of novel medications in psychiatry and the propensity of the adolescent brain to respond to environmental challenges suggest that nonmedication interventions may be most fruitful—especially early in teen development. The treatment of OCD is one such example;

Appreciating that the brain is changeable throughout the teen years obliterates the notion that youth is a “lost cause.” It offers optimism that interventions can change a teenager's life course.

Understanding that the adolescent brain is unique and rapidly changing can help parents, society, and teens themselves to better manage the risks and grasp the opportunities of the teenage years. Knowing that prefrontal executive functions are still under construction, for example, may help parents not overreact when their Son suddenly dyes his hair purple and instead take solace in the notion that there is hope for better judgment in the future.

For teens themselves, the new insights of adolescent neuroscience should encourage them to challenge their brains with the kinds of skills that they want to excel at for the remainder of their lives. They have a marvelous opportunity to craft their own identity and to optimize their brain according to their choosing for a data-rich future that will be dramatically different from the present lives of their parents.

Akshay Rahul, 10-E, FAIPS-DPS