Teenage years
are equated with rebelliousness and everybody has gone through
this stage in one way or another depending on several factors.
Experts in family issues have pinpointed status, family upbringing,
educational background, personality makeup, peer pressure and
many more. Now scientists have come to believe that there is a
medical explanation to better understand the teenage dilemma.
In a Time magazine article entitled "Secrets of the Teen
Brain," researchers from the Institute of Mental Health in
Maryland, USA, have revealed that a teenager's immature brain
accounts for the rebelliousness. The article deals with the studies
of Dr. Jay Giedd, chief of brain imaging at the said institute.
It explains why adolescents have so many erratic and unpredictable
behaviors.
Before the imaging studies of Dr. Giedd, it was believed that
the brain is a finished product by the time a child reaches 12
years old. Dr. Giedd's studies prove that not only the brain of
the adolescent far from mature, but it undergoes extensive structural
changes well past puberty.
These structural changes account for the moodiness, rebelliousness,
and change of the behavior of the adolescent that confuse their
parents endlessly. These changes may also explain why mental illnesses
such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder begin at this stage
of the teenager's life.
According to the studies of Dr. Giedd, the parts of the brain
responsible for reckless risk-taking and rule-breaking are most
active around the time of puberty, while the parts of exercising
judgment are still maturing
The problem is that adolescents think they already know everything
about life, and that their parents are old-fashioned. Particularly
those who don't feel loved or feel neglected by their parents
tend to join gangs to get a feeling of belongingness Adolescence
is the time, too, when the sex hormones are especially active.
Adolescents are actively looking for experiences to create intense
feelings. But bad decisions are made because the brain is not
yet fully mature. Dr. Giedd says the best estimate for when the
brain is truly mature is 25.
In the light of these findings in adolescent behavior, here are
some tips to help parents:
- Stay involved: Attend school programs and meetings and be consistent
not only during grade school days but also in high school and
even college days.
- Get to know their friends: Try to spend time with your teenager's
peers. Share their interests and become a friend to them too.
- Set rules and limits: Firmness, fairness, and consistency are
like the water, food, and air of discipline. Subconsciously, teenagers
find comfort in limitations and you will do better as a parent.
- Make your love visible: Show physical affection as long as you
don't embarrass them in front of their friends.
- Adapt your parenting: As children get older, modify your behavior
accordingly.
- Encourage independence: Instill the values to make your child
stand on his/her own. You won't be there forever to guide them. |
