1st March 2024

The Teenage Brain

The teenage brain has been likened to a ‘brand new Ferrari’ – potentially very powerful and fast but it hasn’t been tried out yet. Neuroscientist Frances E. Jensen has written a comprehensive book on how hormones have been blamed for a lot of teenage moodiness, impulsivity and at times recklessness but this is a part of the picture only.

For parents to understand what makes their active, motivated and sensible teen turn into someone they do not recognise two other factors need to be taken into account. Brain chemistry and brain development are just as important as hormones. To be as brief as possible it comes down to the overabundance of gray matter and a deficiency in white matter.

Gray matter is the building blocks of the brain (the neurons) and white matter is the connective wiring that sends information from one area to another in the brain in an efficient flow. Different areas of the brain develop at different stages of life. A baby uses all five senses to learn and to thrive, a toddler needs balance and mobility; what teenagers are lacking in is a group of skills called ‘executive function‘. These include weighing up danger, planning, judgement, insight and self-awareness.

The area of the brain where the executive function sits is in the frontal lobes. This area in the teenage brain is underdeveloped and the wiring is not at full capacity. Hence the accidents, injuries and impulsive decisions that many teenagers make. It is a good idea to share this information with your teenager but not as a way of your teen never taking responsibility but to raise awareness that they are at a particular stage of their overall development.