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Teenage Brain

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Teenage Brain

Social Media & Teens: No Simple Answers

Scientists are just beginning to investigate how social media and other digital media may physically impact the developing brain
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Teenage Brain

A Delicate Balance: Risks, Rewards, and the Adolescent Brain

Beyond the biological and environmental interactions that characterize adolescent brain development in general, researchers are teasing apart the details behind differences in risk-taking among teens.
Teenage Brain

Understanding the Links between Social Media and Depression

It’s more what people do on social media and less how much time they spend doing it that affects mood, suggests a new study.
Teenage Brain

The Long-Term Effects of Adolescent Alcohol Exposure

Researchers find clues to why teens binge and which brain areas may be most susceptible to danger during this sensitive period.
back view of child holding stuffed bear
Teenage Brain

Effects of Stress on the Developing Brain

Early-life stress can lead to long-lasting behavioral, mental, and physical consequences. Fortunately, preventive measures can improve health outcomes, and while interventions for those who have already experienced debilitating early-life stress require considerable effort, they remain possible, thanks to the brain’s plasticity. Complementary article to "From Lab Bench to Court Bench."
back view of child holding stuffed bear
Teenage Brain

From Lab Bench to Court Bench

Using Science to Inform Decisions in Juvenile Court

Juvenile court judges are asked to determine what is in the best interest of the child in every case they hear. Until about a decade ago, court decisions were routinely made without taking into consideration the needs of toddlers and infants. The Miami Child Well-Being Court™ (MCWBC) program, a partnership of clinicians and judges, has brought science into the courtroom, making it integral to the decision-making process and working to ensure that the needs of the child are met. Complementary article to "Effects of Stress on the Developing Brain"
Teenage Brain

Forecasting Aggression

Toward a New Interdisciplinary Understanding of What Makes Some Troubled Youth Turn Violent

It takes a series of unfortunate circumstances for an adolescent to turn violent. While early exposure to familial violence can play a role, so too can biological influences such as hormone levels and genetic predispositions. The combination of these factors can be deadly. Although genes and other biological causes are difficult to identify and may be impossible to overcome through known therapeutic methods, medical professionals’ intervention techniques can help minimize aggressive behavior related to environmental factors.
Teenage Brain

The Teen Brain: Primed to Learn, Primed to Take Risks

The changes the brain undergoes during adolescence pave the way to adulthood, priming the young person for life away from home and for finding unrelated mates. But this plasticity also can open the door to poor decision making and risky behavior, writes Jay N. Giedd, a child psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Teenage Brain

Beyond Raging Hormones

The Tinderbox in the Teenage Brain

Puberty brings hormonal changes, intense feelings, and craving for arousal, but, writes Dahl, these alone cannot explain the lapses in judgment that shock parents and make adolescents highly vulnerable to addiction, suicide, violence, and other destructive behaviors. We must understand the very different timetables at work in adolescents, whose brain development may not be complete until their twenties but for whom, in most societies, puberty has been arriving earlier.

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