In 2002, PBS produced a series called,
"Inside the Teenage Brain,"
chronicling research and explanations for
why adolescents behave the way they do.
Chapters include:
Teenagers' Inexplicable Behavior
The Wiring of the Adolescent Brain
Mood Swings
"You Just Don't Understand"
From Zzzzz's to A's
Are There Lessons for Parents?
Click here to read an interview with Dr. Jay
Giedd, one of the leading researchers
referenced in the segment, "The Wiring of
the Adolescent Brain."
"Nature made the brains of children and
adolescents excitable. Their brain chemistry
is tuned to be responsive to everything in
their environment. After all, that's what
makes kids learn so easily. But this can
work in ways that are not so good. Take
alcohol, for example. Or nicotine, cannabis,
cocaine, ecstasy..."
From March 1, 2010 NPR segment,
"The Teen Brain:
It's Just Not Grown Up Yet."
In 2004, Neuroscientists
at the National Institute of Mental Health
and UCLA concluded a
15-year magnetic resonance imaging study of normal brain development from ages
5 to 20.
Their efforts led to the first graphic
images depicting the maturation of the
adolescent brain.
Click here to see the time-lapse images of
brain development.
(Red is immature,
purple is mature.)
Topics in Alcohol Research is a website maintained by Aaron White, an alcohol researcher at Duke University Medical Center. The site has a good collection of news articles from various media on the topic of alcohol and its impact on brain development.
According to research by Ken C. Winters, Ph.D., a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota, immature brain development may put teens at greater risk of substance abuse and arrested brain development. To read more, click here.
Brain research has found strong evidence that when it comes to
maturity, organization and control, key parts of the brain related to
emotions, judgment and "thinking ahead"
are the last to arrive.
To read more,
click here.
A collaboration among Cornell University, the University of Rochester and the NYS Center for School Safety, called ACT for Youth, produced this May 2002 Fact Sheet. This 4-page summary highlights the most important aspects of teen brain development and the implications for substance abuse.
