The Adolescent Brain – A Major Remodeling Project

Yes, there is a biological reason for some of your adolescent’s actions! Adolescence has been described as a time in which the brain is going through a major remodeling project.  On the front end of puberty (approximately 11 years for females and 12 for males) there is a genetically driven growth of neural connections, increasing the number and density of synapse and dendrite in several areas of the brain. This period of growth is followed by a process of elimination of non-essential connections that is probably influenced by both genetics and experiences that adolescents are exposed to in their daily lives.  The sensory, emotional and cognitive experiences that adolescents are exposed to with frequency or intensity will become wired into their central nervous systems.  Therefore, the types of experiences, both intellectual and relational, that adolescents encounter can have a profound impact on their developmental trajectory. Exposure to community and relational violence, drugs and self-destructive behaviors during this developmental period can have significant long- term consequences for the developing brain.

Understanding how the brain develops and functions allows caregivers to support adolescents from the perspective of what these youth need developmentally from adults in their lives, rather than reacting solely to how they behave or make us feel. We know that socially adolescents separate from their family and begin to explore a much larger social environment. Physical changes in size and strength allow them to feel that they can now compete in an adult world, but their knowledge and experience lag behind these physical changes. Connections with peers become much more influential during this time period.  Hormonal changes are stirring sexual attractions, increasing interest in intimate relationships, and destabilizing moods. All of these changes create both excitement and anxiety for parents, teachers and the other adults who interact with developing youth.

The most important thing adults can do is to provide healthy relational and developmentally sensitive experiences prior to adolescence to create the scaffolding that will support everyone through this transitional period. The balance between respecting adolescents’ drive toward independence, with their need for monitoring and guidance is a constant challenge for adults. Over the last few decades, science has uncovered some important findings related to changes occurring in the brains of adolescents that has added to our understanding of development. The hope is that with increased understanding of the strengths and vulnerabilities of adolescence, as a society we can begin to create age appropriate support to facilitate the successful transition from childhood into adulthood.

What Happens Inside the Adolescent Brain

Developmentally, emerging functions are built upon earlier more simple functions. Two significant regions undergoing change during this developmental period are the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and the cerebellum. The PFC which mediates such functions as working memory, body regulation, emotional regulation, empathy, insight, fear modulation, abstract thinking, problem solving and morality, is being modified during this period. The number and strength of the connections both within this area and between the PFC and regions lower in the brain and the body allows for improved integration of information. There is also an increase in the insulation of the connections that allows for information to travel much faster. These changes will result in improvements in top down, cortically modulated control and a decrease in automatic, habitual behavioral and hormonal patterns of reacting to stressful environmental demands. However, just like any remodeling project, functioning temporarily gets less efficient before the benefits can be enjoyed.

The cerebellum is also being remodeled during this developmental time period. This region coordinates physical movement, but is also important in recognizing social cues. Important information flows from the body to the lower parts of the brain and then get integrated in the higher brain regions. The modifications occurring in these neural pathways may initially mean that the adolescent may focus on some important social cues and miss others. Lacking a more comprehensive understanding of a social interaction may cause the adolescent to react in an irrational, illogical manner. In addition to the changes in the wiring of this region there is a change in the rhythmic release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical important to attention and motivation. These chemical changes, most influential in the early period of adolescence, cause youth to be motivated to a greater extent by short-term gains rather than concerns about long-term losses.  (The thrills outweigh the risk of injury and death.) As the release of dopamine stabilizes, around the age of 14 or 15, the ability to weigh the long term consequences of our actions begins to improve, but top-down regulation does not fully mature until the mid 20’s.  This research suggests that it might be helpful to involve younger teens in activities that give them short-term personal gratification and then work on self- regulation and delayed gratification goals later in adolescents.

It is important to understand that it is not that adolescents cannot think like adults, but more that their cognitive equipment is not working as efficiently during this developmental period. When they are thinking they may not be feeling, and when they are feeling they may not be thinking. Stress plays a significant role in how adolescents are affected by these neurological changes.

The Impact of Maltreatment on the Brain’s Remodeling

Many of the templates we use to guide us in the relational world are established in the first two years of life and influence us outside of our awareness.  As the teenager separates from the home environment and faces complex social demands, the social neural networks - both conscious and unconscious - are activated.  If the foundation of these templates contains fragments of sensations, feelings, images and perceptual biases formed by maltreatment this makes the developmental journey for an adolescent more difficult to negotiate. Experiences of prolonged, chronic abuse, neglect or exposure to other forms of violence divert resources away from cortical regions and predispose an individual toward action rather than thought. Maltreatment affects brain development throughout childhood, but becomes a much larger issue during adolescence. It is one thing to manage an aggressive, impulsive, irrational five-year-old, but another thing entirely to manage those same behaviors in a 16-year-old who is bigger, more mobile, and has increased opportunity to engage in unsafe activities in the community. Adults who have to deal with these difficult-to-manage adolescents often misattribute their reactivity to their character, “bad seeds,” rather than an outcome of their adverse developmental experiences earlier in life.

Know Your Teenager Inside and Out

Everyone wants to feel understood and validated for who they are. Even though it may sometimes feel as if your teenager doesn’t care what you think, remember that your child is in fact greatly concerned about your love, respect and your opinions. Staying relationally connected to teenagers is very important to their development. Most children and families are able to successfully negotiate this period without major conflicts.  For those parents, foster parents, teachers or other caring adults who are dealing with troubled youth, remember that their behavior is an indication they are having difficulty coping with what they are experiencing internally and externally and it is not about you personally. Here are a few tips to think about to guide you through the remodeling of your adolescent’s brain.

• Try and focus on what they are thinking and feeling inside instead of always focusing on their behavior. Work on seeing the world through their eyes before expecting them to see the world through yours.
• Teenagers often want to control the social interaction. They seem to talk most when you are not trying to get them to talk. Create opportunities when you are just with your teenager and you will be surprised by how much they might share. Go out for a ride in the car, take walks, shot a basketball around, have dinner together or just sit in the same room reading. 
• Teenagers need clear expectations and structure plus validation and support - not one or the other. Teenager trust adults who can act like adults and respect them as teenagers, not someone who wants to be their friend or wants to control them.
• If you find that your teenager is creating a high level of internal distress for you - generating feelings of shame, helplessness or powerlessness - look first inside yourself for what unresolved issue might be reactivated from your past. The best way to stay connected to your teenager is to first stay connected to yourself.  Self-awareness is your greatest asset. 
• Help teenagers to use all of their brain in order to solve problems.  Ask them how they feel. What they think. Try to help them see issues from someone else’s perspective, in order to generate multiple solutions.  The goal is not just finding the solution, but teaching them to integrate sensations, feelings and thoughts into a more comprehensive, coherent picture of the world in which they live and the relationships they develop.

Remodeling can be messy and disruptive, but the end result is generally worth the effort!

I welcome your comments and questions. Please don't hesitate to post them here, or to contact me directly by email at jerry.yager@denvercac.org.