Analysis Of The Teen Brain

For those of us that are parents, we know that raising a child to adulthood is not an easy task but one which we do lovingly (hopefully) and responsibly. I’ll go out on a limb to say here that everyone agrees that the teenage years are the most challenging. The general consensus is that teenagers are unruly, aggressive, careless, spoiled and dependent on technology. On the other hand, I believe along with a small group of other parents that teenagers are also brilliant and in the process of becoming and reaching their potential and that they deserve much more respect than what they are given.

Mascarelli, Amanda Leigh. " The Teenage Brain." Student Science. Society for Students & the Public, 17 Oct. 2012. Web.

I gather this because evidence has been shown that teenager’s brains are impetuous and impulsive. In the article “Teenage Brains are Malleable and Vulnerable, Researchers Say”, by Jon Hamilton, readers can see that in paragraph 4 it states, “studies suggest that adolescent brains are ‘wired’ to engage in risky behavior”. These activities include drugs, unsafe sex, and drinking. Obviously, teenagers are drawn towards these acts while knowing that they are morally and ethically wrong. In “Romeo and Juliet”, the readers see actions of “love” between the two star-crossed soulmates. The audience

When one compares the structure of the adult brain and the teenage brain, there will be several differences between the two. Adults have stronger connections from one nerve cell to another, and they all have essential communication skills. However, teenagers have more synapses and have weaker nerve connections. Also, their frontal lobes aren 't fully developed. This causes adolescence to have impulsive behavior and they typically do not recognize consequences in a situation. In the early twenties the brain becomes fully developed, so people are very good at making decision and they are able to think abstractly. There are many factors that contribute to the construction of the brain; some things help the brain develop normally, other things interrupt the process. There is a substantial amount of distinctions between the adult brain and the adolescent brain, and these includes behavioral and structural differences.

The article “Inside the Teenage Brain” by Marty Wolner states that recently, brain researchers have been able to do a great quantity of detailed studies on the human brain. Despite previous thoughts about the teenage brain, development of the brain through the teenage years is very dynamic. The teenage brain is still learning how to process certain information properly in the thinking part of the brain, so often teens may not process all the information necessary to make responsible decisions. Nevertheless, the teenage years can be very stressful for both parents and for teens. Getting through the teenage years can be difficult, but with the right amount of healthy communication, discipline and support the road ahead won’t be so rough. At this

Teenagers are often seen in society as careless and dangerous in the U.S. society. With many articles on adolescence, this thought stays true. Although, in a basic psychology book the author contradicts this thought. The author of a basic psychology book merely states that peers often coincide with parents on encouraging teens to do well. So, what’s the truth? The best way to answer this is to analyze articles that have strong support for their opinion on adolescence. An article by the name of “Why Teen-Agers Are the Worst” by Elizabeth Kolbert explores the possibilities on why teenagers may be dangerous. Kolbert’s thesis is “At moments of extreme exasperation, parents may think that there’s something wrong with their teen-agers’ brains. Which, according to recent books on adolescence,

Paul Thompson the author of “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” claims that teenagers must be charged as juveniles, and not adults because their brains are not fully developed.In Thompson's article, he mainly uses logos and hardly any ethos.”These frontal lobes, which inhibit our violent passions, rash actions, and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years(7)”In this quotation, Thompson doesn’t mention who or where he found this information so therefore it makes it weak in ethos. It seems like the only time he does use ethos is when it's reported in the news already and he doesn't have anything to back it up.”In terms of cognitive development, as research on the human brain has shown...young teens are far from

Sarah Spinks, in her article “Adolescent Brains are Works in Progress” explains about the critical changes in teenage brain and its effects on them. It reports the studies by various scientist regarding the development of prefrontal cortex, corpus callosum, and cerebellum of the brain along with the phenomenon of pruning.

The brain's white matter, prefrontal cortext responds to judgment and impulse control is different in adolescent than adult. During adolescent, teenagers can easily be more frustrated and upset for no reason, while the adult are calmer with the emotion. This also true because when I was in my teenage years, if things wasn't going according to what I want, I would be upset with everything around me.

Modern day parenting is far from easy, today’s parents face many obstacles and sometimes can be way too hard on the child. Parents work to protect the children and help them succeed in life whether that is at work or at school. The endless worrisome thoughts about one’s child can cause the parents to crack down on the child which ultimately pushes them away. Teenagers are known to be distant and “stuck in a different world” most of the time due to hormone changes, and outside influences such as friends. Parents struggle to hold a relationship with teenage children because the teen tends to want to be alone more and sees the parent as “over protective”.

As a result, they often don’t consider the consequences of their actions as aacap.org explains, “...adolescents' brains work differently than adults when they make decisions or solve problems. Their actions are guided more by the emotional and reactive amygdala and less by the thoughtful, logical frontal cortex” (aacap.org) Without seeing the consequences of their actions, teenagers are bound to make poor decisions that adults otherwise wouldn’t

While parents yearn desparately for acceptance by their teen, many make the mistake of trying to be a friend first and a parent second. Teens have plent of friends, so when parents try to make that a priority, it sets the teen up for failure. Many parents miss the warning signs and subtle clues leading up to major problems. Slipping grades are disregarded as a temporary struggle; moodiness is attributed to hormones and withdrawal overlooked as a normal teenage thing. These are potential warning signs that the teen is struggling or is heading for trouble. Being aware is one of the greatest assets to parenting

Adults usually make most of the decisions for young children, but adolescents must make many decisions on their own. For example, when I was a child, my mother would choose what I would wear for school and what was in my lunch box. But now, I have to choose what I will wear, what I will eat, what kind of job I want to have and many more different decisions.

We would like to start this speech off with a little comparison between what parents think and what we, being the teenagers, think. It is well known that parents and teenagers have not been always been known to agree on everything. Whether it was that haircut you got our that meal they tried to feed you. Sometimes we just don’t agree on everything. For instant, parenting in general, is often described differently depending on who you ask. According to some parents, “parenting is 50% love, 10% lies, 10% yelling and 30% unclogging toilets”. To them, “parenting is basically just listening to yourself talk because nobody else is.”. However, according to some, well most teenagers, “parenting is embarrassing us whenever, wherever 90% of the time”. To us, “parenting is having our own personalized cook, counsellor, chauffeur and bank”. So yeah, there's a little bit of controversy there. But parents, they’re great, I mean, it is an huge understatement to say that you guys are awesome! To

#Talk to them regularly. Talking to a teenager can feel like communicating with a brick wall, which is why many parents shy away from it. However, if you don’t communicate with your teens, you miss an opportunity to get to know them better and understand their unique perspectives. Make time to talk to each of your children frequently, one-on-one and as a group.http://www.ahaparenting.com/ages-stages/teenagers/tips-bond-close-teen