Adolescent experiences have life long effects on the brain

[Elmore Furth]

As the twig is bent so grows the tree.

They say you never escape high school. And for better or worse, science is lending some credibility to that old saw. Thanks to sophisticated imaging technology and a raft of longitudinal studies, we’re learning that the teen years are a period of crucial brain development subject to a host of environmental and genetic factors. This emerging research sheds light not only on why teenagers act they way they do, but how the experiences of adolescence—from rejection to binge drinking—can affect who we become as adults, how we handle stress, and the way we bond with others.

One of the most important discoveries in this area of study, says Dr. Frances Jensen, a neuroscientist at Harvard, is that our brains are not finished maturing by adolescence, as was previously thought. Adolescent brains “are only about 80 percent of the way to maturity,” she said at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November. It takes until the mid-20s, and possibly later, for a brain to become fully developed.

Inside Our Heads An excess of gray matter (the stuff that does the processing) at the beginning of adolescence makes us particularly brilliant at learning—the reason we’re so good at picking up new languages starting in early childhood—but also particularly sensitive to the influences of our environment, both emotional and physical. Our brains’ processing centers haven’t been fully linked yet, particularly the parts responsible for helping to check our impulses and considering the long-term repercussions of our actions. “It’s like a brain that’s all revved up not knowing where it needs to go,” says Jensen.

It’s partially because of this developmental timeline that a teen can be so quick to conjure a stinging remark, or a biting insult, and so uninhibited in firing it off at the nearest unfortunate target—a former friend, perhaps, or a bewildered parent. The impulse to hurl an insult is there, just as it may be for an adult in a stressful situation, but the brain regions that an adult might rely on to stop himself from saying something cruel just haven’t caught up.

The Kids Can’t Help It

[gateley]

1. Interesting. Thanks. nt

[bluestateguy]

2. I used to have a real problem with blurting out things I should not have said

"Think before you speak!!" my elementary school teachers used to admonish me. But the problem persisted, and I got in trouble more than a few times for shooting off my mouth. This problem did not begin to taper off until college for me.

[elleng]

4. Daughter in Grad school, STILL doing it, hurting sister DEEPLY.

(Bad day here.)

[postulater]

3. From my experience it works in reverse too.

The older I get, the more likely I am to call bullshit on someone without caring about what they think.

I'll also point out to people what they might be not noticing about what is happening around them. They don't always like it.

So maybe once the white matter connections are solidified, the gray ones start to kick in more.

[Duppers]

6. The older I get..

"the more likely I am to call bullshit on someone without caring about what they think."

Isn't it the truth!!

I'm in the same boat and people tell me I've changed. Hell no, I haven't, I just don't care what they think any more. I tell 'em what I think is true and let the (their) cookies crumble.

[FirstLight]

5. greaaat, don't tell my mother!

I'm 40 and she is still talking smack and punishing me for shit i did when I was 18...