Teenage behavior and developmental patterns

Teenage Behavior

Raising teenagers is a time-consuming task. It requires full-time attention and ultimate patience. Teenagers' aggressive attitudes, unpredictable and sometimes incomprehensible moods and behaviors are most often parents' nightmare. Adults try to understand and analyze where their children are coming from, whether it is from society's influence or they wonder if something went wrong with the way they raise them.

One of the common knowledge that affects teenagers' behavior is hormonal changes. That along physical growth such as, but not limited to, body hair growth, both pubic and auxiliary, menstruation for women, deep set voice for men and skin changes wherein sebaceous gland becoming more active resulting to produce more oils thus causing the face to be susceptible to acne and pimples, comes psychological, emotional changes.

According to some researchers, the long-held idea that human brain development is virtually complete within the first few years of life is a serious misconception. Many aspects of brain maturation continue throughout childhood and well into the late teenage years. Neural system continues to inhibit a natural capacity to be molded and sculpted by the individual's experiences. In particular, systems involved in emotion and motivation appear to undergo significant changes during adolescence.

There is a need to understand that puberty is a process of multiple components. There had been researches that explain why teenagers engage on highly dangerous and risky behavior including maturational changes in three different hormone systems.

The first system is called "gonadarche" which involves a cascade of hormones that activates gonads, ovaries and testes, to mature and begin to produce high level of estrogen and testosterones. The second hormonal change is called "adrenarche" which centers on the release of testosterone-like hormones from outer part of adrenal gland which contributes in changes in skin, as well as development of underarm and pubic hair. And the third group involves growth hormone that is released in the pulses of pituitary gland which contribute to the rapid physical growth.

The flow of pulsing hormones that creates physical changes begins in the brain. The hormones are not causing brain changes but brain development causes hormonal increases which causes major body changes. However, there were researches wherein a particular hormone released in the blood can have a specific effect on a part of a brain. As an example, there had been evidence found that rising level of serotonin, a neuron transmitter involve in sleeping, depression and memory, have a direct effect in the regulation of mood and arousal. Research of this kind supports the idea that downstream hormonal effects, which are from brain down to hormones, could have behavioral stimulation or changes.

Adolescent behavior is much more complicated than the raging hormones. According to Mr. Laurence Steinberg, a distinguished university professor and Laura H. Carnell professor of Psychology at Temple, aggressive attitudes and adventure seeking is the result of competition between two difference brain systems, the socioemotional and cognitive-control networks, that are undergoing maturation during adolescence, but along very different timetables.

The socioemotional system, which processes social and emotional information, becomes very active during poverty allowing adolescents to become more easily aroused and experience more intense emotion, and to become more sensitive to social influence while cognitive-control system is the part of the brain that regulates behavior and makes the ultimate decisions, but is still maturing during adolescence and into a person's mid-20s at least.

Please take note that the socioemotional system is not consistently dominant all throughout adolescent's life. When teenager's emotions are checked, alone or not emotionally excited, the cognitive-control system is strong enough to control over impulsive and risky behaviors. However, when teenager's emotions run high, socioemotional system is highly activated to rule over regulatory effectiveness of cognitive-control network.

Many teenagers engage in activities like drinking, smoking, drugs, sex and other activities that is a big no-no for their parents. In here, the teens are seeking for adventure and experiment with different ideas. During this time, the adolescent battles over his own set of values vs. The set established by parents and other adult figures. They also begin to take on more control of educational and vocational pursuits and advantages. It is during this time that adolescents' self-dependence and a sense of responsibility become apparent, along with their quest to contribute to society and find their place in it.

With the way they respond to peer pressure, social demands and other factors that lead to irresponsible actions, teens should know their consequences. Excessive drinking, smoking and drugs can cause damage to vital organs including liver, lungs, heart and pancreas. It can also cause death, not only of the person who consumed such but of a third party as well. Drinking while driving may cause an accident or worse, even death while drugs give a hallucinating or delirious effect that could harm oneself or another individual. Sexually active persons can have sexually transmitted disease and can cause even pregnancy. There are endless enumerations which could lead to body malfunctions, illnesses or even third party accidents or death if not properly treated or acted upon.

In this note, we can say that the effects of a teenager's decision can be associated with the hormonal changes and the brain's reaction to these transformations. However, it should not be used to justify their incompetent or negligent act he or she should be held responsible for. A person has control over his body and has freedom to choose what to do, which puts up him a position that if something is done wrong, he or she must be accountable and pay for his actions.