04/11/2024
In our parenting classes, especially the one we conduct at the jails and prisons… I always discuss in detail the adolescent brain. The human brain is not fully developed by the time a person reaches puberty. Between the ages of 10 and 25, the brain undergoes changes that have important implications for behavior. The brain reaches 90% of its adult size by the time a person is six or seven years of age. Thus, the brain does not grow in size much during adolescence. However, the creases in the brain continue to become more complex until the late teens. The biggest changes in the folds of the brain during this time occur in the parts of the cortex that process cognitive and emotional information.
Up until puberty, brain cells continue to bloom in the frontal region. Some of the most developmentally significant changes in the brain occur in the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision making and cognitive control, as well as other higher cognitive functions. During adolescence, myelination and synaptic pruning in the prefrontal cortex increases, improving the efficiency of information processing, and neural connections between the prefrontal cortex and other regions of the brain are strengthened. However, this growth takes time and the growth is uneven.
It doesn’t matter how smart teens are or how well they scored on the SAT or ACT. The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so. Understanding their development can help parents and love ones support them in becoming independent, responsible adults. It’s definitely not easy.
