Page 29 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 10 2022

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Today's Child

Recent ground-breaking research shows how brain

changes that occur during adolescence can be used to

help teenagers achieve their potential.

or some adolescents, consequences of their actions. And UNDERSTANDING THE CHAOS
the teenage years are a all this happens while having to cope During adolescence, teens start to
breeze; for others, this with academic pressure. Given these develop more sophisticated ways of
developmental phase is a factors, coupled with the inner conflicts thinking. Abstract reasoning comes
difficult journey; and for and emotions that define adolescence, into play. However, it’s also a time when
Ftoo many teens, it is a soul- many teenagers may not realise their teenagers are experimenting; they
destroying period dominated by feelings full intellectual potential. are often judged for risky behaviour
of low self-worth, depression and anxiety. and for being impulsive and irritable.
These changes can be extremely In a bid to decode and understand the This behaviour is attributed to raging
challenging. Teenagers may suffer mood brain’s evolution, scientists have been hormones, an increased sex drive and
swings which are often hard to control charting the neural changes that occur immaturity.
or they may undergo an identity crisis. during adolescence. Insights from
Some teens rebel or discover a taste for this research are helping to explain Teenagers feel misunderstood
adventure and risk-taking; this may be why teens behave the way they do. and isolated. Their turmoil is often
spurred on by the need for peer approval, Moreover, researchers suggest that ridiculed. As neuroscientist Sarah-
which becomes paramount at this age. certain traits or skills learnt during the Jayne Blakemore, author of Inventing
teen years – traits which even an adult Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage
By the same measure, they seem would find challenging – can be turned Brain, says: “It is not socially acceptable
incapable of considering the into strengths. to mock and demonise other sectors of
society ... but it is strangely acceptable
to mock and demonise teenagers.”
On the one hand, teens seem to
be doing all they can to separate
themselves from their families in an
effort to assert their independence.
They often challenge authority and
boundaries. Yet teens crave approval
from the adults in their lives as well
as their peers. This period of conflict
is normal and may be less evident in
teens with stronger self-esteem who
come from stable, supportive homes
where the communication channels
are open.

How teens interpret their world
is based on their changing
social environment, the physical
transformation their bodies undergo
and the shifting expectations placed
on them. These can contribute to
teenagers feeling alienated.
Mood swings can be explained by
the interplay of psychological and
physiological processes associated
with maturing. Teenagers experience
greater fluctuations in hormone and
neurotransmitters such as serotonin
(one of the feelgood hormone), GABA
Photo by Antonika Chanel There is also the matter of sleep. It
and cortisol, which affect mood.

has been extensively researched and
reported that teens have a different
body clock to adults and require
far more sleep. This is because their
melatonin (a hormone made in the
body that regulates sleep cycles) rises

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