Hare-brained stunts, ill-considered decisions and a loose appreciation for the line between cause and effect. If that sounds like a fair description for your teen these days, congratulations, Junior is perfectly normal.
You may sometimes feel that your teen’s impulsive, irrational and potentially dangerous behavior and approach to decision-making are intentional efforts to drive you crazy. Or you may think your teen is the only kid out there who fails to consider the possible consequences before leaping into action. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, you can blame biology.
Although your teenager may loom over you, his brain is still developing. Research shows the brain doesn’t finish developing until an individual is in his early 20s.
Along the way, different parts of the brain develop at a different pace, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. While the amygdala, which is responsible for instinctual reactions including fear and aggressive behavior, develops early, the frontal cortex, which controls reasoning, develops later. The brain is also forming a lot of connections between brain cells and pruning neural pathways during adolescence.
In other words, the teen brain is in overdrive, but its approach to problem-solving and decision-making can be very different from an adult’s.
“This unbalance in a teen’s brain can affect their judgement and let them react more instinctively than an adult would. They are more likely to act without thinking about the consequences,” says Dr. Meghan Markovich, a St. Elizabeth Physicians pediatrician at the Hebron Medical Arts Primary Care location.
That’s not to say that teens can’t make good decisions, but they may need a little more coaching, patience and guidance, Markovich says.
“As a parent, setting clear boundaries for your teen will be helpful,” said Markovich. “Talking about potential situations ahead of time – for instance, what would you do if you found out your ride home had been drinking? – may help the teen prepare so when they need to make a decision quickly, they do not rely solely on their instincts and react impulsively.”
For more information on adolescent brain development, read The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction, a publication available at the National Institute of Mental Health.
