A Parental Guide to Understanding The Teenage Brain

I can’t seem to understand my child anymore! This is a common statement made by parents when their child hits adolescence.

Risk-taking, impulsiveness, moodiness, and poor decision-making are part of the new changes that pose a challenge to the adults that live and interact with teenagers.

Hormones get blamed for these changes. As this is partly true, it is not the main reason why adolescent developmental changes are taking place. The teenage brain carries a fair share of the blame as it affects the teenager’s mindset and behavior.

Why You Need to Understand the Changes Taking Place

The teenage brain is unique because it undergoes remodeling leading to a series of changes that make the teen exhibit behavior and emotions that were not there before.

Understanding the teenage brain will help the teen and their loved ones appreciate the occurring changes and find positive ways of addressing the challenges experienced while embracing the beautiful transformation taking place.

What Changes Occur Inside Your Teenagers Brain?

Complex teenage brain development and functional connectivity occur at this stage.

The first six years of your teen’s life involved the formation of brain connections, an increase in brain size, and better brain cell communication.

These three processes take place from back to front. The backside of the brain is involved in the most basic functions like walking, thinking, and language, while the front is involved in complex functions like decision making, solving problems, and impulse control.

By the time your child hits adolescence, most of the backside has formed while the front part (prefrontal cortex) is being worked on properly.

The teenage brain will continue to get rid of unused old connections while the formation of new ones takes place. The exposure the teen experiences in everyday life influence these connections.

 The Prefrontal Cortex Functions And How The Amygdala Contributes

Prefrontal Cortex rests on the front part of the brain, just behind the forehead. Popularly known as the CEO of the brain, it performs executive functions like

• Focused attention
• Impulse control
• Organization
• Controlling mood
• Distinguishing right from wrong

Before the adolescent stage, most of these functions were performed by you, the primary caregiver. As your child undergoes growth and development late into the pre-teens years, these functions start to take effect gradually in the Prefrontal Cortex. The process then continues until full maturation in the mid-twenties.

Since your child feels like they are acquiring an adult body and you as a parent also expect them to start acting like adults, they rely on the Amygdala, the emotional part of the brain, to perform tasks meant for the prefrontal cortex.

Amygdala is in charge of emotions, instinctive behavior, impulses, and aggression. This is the reason teenagers decide on a cause of action by how it makes them feel more than assessing the benefits and consequences.

Isn’t it confusing when on one occasion, your teen carries out a task so well while another time they fail at it by acting irresponsibly? This is because the brain is still pruning and making the necessary changes that can cause shifting from the stable Prefrontal Cortex to the emotional and aggressive Amygdala.

The fact is, for most of their teen life, your child will mostly rely on the emotional part of the brain (Amygdala) for decision making, organization, assessing a situation, among other functions.

This explains why teenagers are prone to engage in risky behavior like staying out late, committing a violent act, over speeding, or drug exploration just because it is emotionally exciting.

Noticeable Changes That Occur as The Teenage Brain Develops 

The natural and much-needed changes that take place during adolescent years help to prepare your child for adult life. These brain changes tend to become permanent and hard to break later in life.

Your input in nurturing and disciplining your child helps amplify the positive side and cut back on the negative.

Adolescence brings with it many changes in different areas of life. Here are four main areas that are easily noticeable and need careful attention:

Social Changes

“You no longer talk to me,” does this comment sound familiar? You may have said this to your teenager, if not, you have shared this concern with your spouse or close friend.

The main social interaction that your child enjoyed when they were little was the one they had with you. When they approach adolescence, their brain capacity to accommodate more close and different relationships expand. Their social circles continue to grow as they seek to find their identity outside the home.

Your child’s peer group now becomes their close allies, and they tend to hang out with them more and seek their advice. This is a much-needed process as it prepares your teen to interact and live in the outside world. Regulation and monitoring of these friends by you helps to keep them from the wrong company.

Arguments also increase in the home as your teenager learns to think for themselves. Their new complex brain connections allow them to have a different point of view than yours in carrying out tasks. Most parents take it personally, but teenagers are just trying to affirm their individuality when they question the decisions and requests made to them. This stage doesn’t mean you let them have their way all the time.

You may have been caught off guard by your teenager when they started seeking new experiences as they try to find their identity. Some of these novice experiences include music, clothing style, friendships, and art.

It is okay to let them try out these things in a safe environment as it helps them know who they are and the person they want to become. Communication of harmful habits needs to take place at this point as they may try out drugs and other negative experiences.

The emergence and interest in the opposite sex intensify at this stage. There is a desire to impress and interact with the opposite sex. It is a normal process that you, as a parent, need to embrace and closely monitor to help your child develop healthy relationships.

Some parents block, excessively control, or aren’t available to monitor these interactions, which may cause improper brain connectivity of how to handle these intimate relationships later in life.

Emotional Changes

Your child will express emotions more intensely as they navigate through their teenage years. Teenagers experience intense sadness, increases irritability, or frequent discouragement. These are part of the changes that occur due to the chemical changes taking place in their brain. Your close input is needed to correct and model the right way to express these emotions.

You may have already noticed your teenager experiences mood swings now and then. Today they are in high spirits and may even hug you several times; the following day, they do not want to see or talk to you for no apparent reason.

As much as it is vital to ensure they do not have any underlying issues like depression or anxiety disorder, mood swings can occur for no reason at all.

Emotions govern the decision-making process for teenagers. Their choices are also determined by how fast they can get the desired effect. Take, for instance; it is easier to cheat on an exam than spend long hours studying.

You are in a good position to teach them what is going on in their brain and learn other ways to make decisions that will not harm their future.

Adolescents experience stress with a deeper intensity than an adult. When you are undergoing a stressful situation, the hormone cortisol rises in your body, an area in the prefrontal cortex helps to regulate this release and takes it back to normal within a short time.

Since the prefrontal cortex develops slowly in teenagers, the cortisol hormone stays longer in their body, which causes heightened levels of another hormone called dopamine. People with mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia have this hormone in increased amounts.

Helping your teenager deal with stressors like isolation, traumatic events, bullying, demands of school, will go a long way in managing unhealthy dopamine levels in the brain.

Behavioral Changes

Risk-taking and impulsivity is the most frequent complaint you may have of your teenager’s behavior. Teenagers and young adults tend to take more risks than any other age group.

Since the part of the prefrontal cortex that works as self-regulation is still developing, your adolescent child has limited ability to stop themselves from taking part in excessively risky behavior. That is why it is crucial to educate your child about the teenage brain development facts and why they need your guidance.

Brain imaging studies by (Albert, Chein, and Steinberg,2013) have shown that the brain is more sensitive to the rewards teens feel when they please their peers. The level of engaging in risky behavior increases when your teen is amongst her peers.

Now you see why ensuring your teen’s friends are positive influencers is essential. As much as you may not control all aspects of their relationships, making an effort to know their friends helps.

You may have noticed that your teen’s sleep pattern has changed; this is because the adolescent period causes the hormone melatonin, which is released to trigger sleep, is secreted later in the night compared to earlier on in childhood.

These changes cause teenagers to sleep late and wake up later in the day. The situation worsens when they want to watch movies all night or chat on their phones.

On average, a teenager needs 8-10 hours of sleep because their brain is developing, and sleep is the food of the brain that allows this process to take place effectively.

Cognitive Changes

“Why should I do it your way?” Is a line you are likely to hear often from your teenager. Cognitive development in adolescence is the process through which your child acquires more complex thinking and learning abilities.

Teenagers begin looking at requests and instructions given as having more than one option. This causes them to question authority because they realize they too can make a personal decision.

Your rules will be challenged; you may have to revise some of them as you discuss and negotiate your longstanding laws to foster an all-inclusive relationship.

Your teenager will start to question and think about their identity in a more detailed manner and how other people perceive them. They will realize they play different roles to different people and how each role influences them.

Do not be surprised if your child tries out different personality stunts just to experiment if it is a better fit or if their peers will notice them.

Your teen will also develop personal fable; this is thinking they are special, and whatever they are experiencing is unique to them. They also have this belief that no harm can come to them, no matter what they do.

They are also obsessed with the idea that there’s an imaginary audience always watching them. Repeated conversations need to take place, especially in the early stages of adolescence, to educate them on the realities of life, and there’s nothing new under the sun.

Are You Equipped to Handle The Teenage Brain Development Changes?

Approaching the adolescent period of your child’s life doesn’t have to be scary or involve feeling helpless.

Understanding the social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive changes taking place puts you in a better position to enjoy your child’s new experiences as you assist them in navigating teenagehood.

They will appreciate your efforts, maybe not now, but definitely after they enter adulthood when their teenage brain is fully developed.

Get in touch with us and book your spot in the upcoming parenting class that explains these changes in detail and offers you tips to navigate the teen years.

Jane Kariuki

Jane Kariuki is a devout Christian, Clinician, Psychologist, and founder of ParenTeen Kenya. She authored an exceptional training manual used in her teens’ workshop and an instructional guidebook for her parenting classes. If she is not training, blogging, or counseling, Jane loves to spend time with her sweet husband and three children.