Inside the adolescent brain: Can the angst of adolescence be traced to neurodevelopment?
Many parents can attest to the “storm and stress” of adolescence. Historically, this tumultuous period of development was attributed to the significant life transitions that occur as adolescents struggle to form a sense of identity, find their place in a complex social world, and separate from their parents. And while the psychological and emotional stress of emergent adulthood challenges an adolescent’s coping resources, new neurological findings suggest the impetus for adolescent angst can be traced to a biological predisposition towards being more anxious and fearful. A recent New York Times article on Why Teens Are Crazy linked the brain development of adolescents to a heightened fear response. Namely, an adolescent’s amygdala develops much faster than their prefrontal cortex, resulting in an adolescent brain that readily perceives fear and anxiety with an underdeveloped neurocognitive capacity for executive control and reasoning. In addition, the brain’s reward center also matures much faster than the prefrontal cortex, resulting in teenagers who are more prone to risky behaviors and less adept at identifying behavioral consequences. As highlighted in the New York Times article, this explains why adolescents are more prone to injury and trauma, including accidents, homicide, and suicide. Neurocognitively, the ability to effectively modulate emotions occurs when the prefrontal cortex fully matures around the age of 25. It is this executive control, or “top down” processing, that allows individuals to learn that the instinctual perceptions of danger necessary for survival are not always a realistic threat. Thus, it makes sense that research with adolescents indicates they have an impaired ability to extinguish fear conditioning when compared to children and adults. For adolescents and young adults who are neurologically predisposed to taking risks, the consequences of traumatic exposure and an exaggerated fear response could be devastating. Although our society perpetuates an image of adolescence as carefree, tempestuous, and risky, new neuropsychological findings shed light on the unique neurocognitive vulnerabilities of teenagers who are more reactive to perceived threats and less adept at forming a rational response to fear and anxiety.