Drama in the Teenage Brain

WHAT IS ADOLESCENCE? Adolescence, which comes from the Latin word adolescere, meaning " to grow up, " is used to describe the period of life between childhood and adulthood. It is commonly defined as starting around puberty and ending when an individual has developed an independent, stable role in society. Adolescence is not a new phenomenon. Ancient humans experienced adolescence and Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was one of the first to record and comment on the changes in the way people think and behave during this period. Characteristic behaviors of adolescence, such as heightened self-consciousness, novelty seeking, risk taking, and spending more time with friends, are all fundamental to the successful transition into adulthood. WE ARE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE TO WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT US DURING ADOLESCENCE Social influences, like what other people think of us, play a big role in the way we feel and act. Scientists from around the world have shown that adolescents are particularly sensitive to their social environment. This can mean many things. For example, many adolescents care about the opinions (both good and bad!) of their peers or friends, sometimes even more than about those of family members. One way to measure how sensitive we are to the opinions and actions of others is by measuring how bad we feel after being excluded from a multiplayer game. One such game, called " cyberball, " involves participants playing a game of " catch " with two other players. The participant can be included in the game of catch The lives of teenagers are different from the lives of children. This period of life – adolescence – is a time of both social and biological changes. Social life becomes more complex during adolescence, and the teenage years are the period when we hone our skills for navigating the social world. These abilities are reflected in the changes occurring in the brain. We know that the areas of the brain involved in understanding other people and predicting their actions are undergoing changes during adolescence. As a result, this might be a period when we are more sensitive to signals from the people around us and the events in our social lives.