The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults

The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults (2014) is by American neurologist Frances E. Jensen with journalist Amy Ellis Nutt. A New York Times bestseller, the book was nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing. The Teenage Brain is a guide to the workings of the adolescent brain aimed at parents. Using scientific research data combined with real-life stories and anecdotes, the author explains the changes that occur in the adolescent brain and their effect on behavior.

The book provides insight into topics such as adolescent sleep patterns and extreme risk-taking while dispelling many myths about teenagers. Jensen argues that the neuroplasticity of the teenage brain provides great learning potential but also makes teens vulnerable to stress, mental disorders, and addiction. Consequently, the adolescent years are a critical time for shaping healthy brain development. Throughout the guide, Jensen provides practical suggestions for how parents can support teenagers through these crucial years.

This guide refers to the 2015 HarperCollins eBook edition.

Content Warning: This guide contains references to drug and alcohol addiction, suicidal ideation, and outdated and offensive terminology for people with intellectual disabilities.

Summary

Frances E. Jensen is a neurologist and the mother of two sons. In The Teenage Brain, the author outlines how adolescent brains differ from those of adults in terms of function and connectivity. The book explains that adolescence is a period of huge neurological change, and hence, Jensen suggests that this is the reason why teenagers are often misunderstood. Jensen’s primary aim is to give parents insight into the minds of their adolescent children while also dispelling myths about teenage behavior. As well as findings from scientific research, she uses family anecdotes and real-life cases to illustrate her account.

Jensen explains that the teenage years are critical in shaping neurological development. The brain’s frontal lobes are relatively immature, with few neural connections to the rest of the brain. The frontal lobes play a key role in judgment, decision-making, and insight into risks and consequences. Teenagers are more likely to take risks and make dangerous mistakes due to the immaturity of their frontal lobes. A further factor in risky teenage behavior is the highly reactive nature of the brain’s limbic system, which is stimulated by every new experience. On encountering new sensations, teenagers feel a greater sense of reward from increased levels of dopamine.

Teenage brains also react differently to hormones. The high concentration of sex hormones released at puberty has a dramatic effect on the limbic system. Jensen explains that, in adolescents, this area of the brain is both underdeveloped and overexcitable, causing emotional volatility. While adults can moderate their responses to hormones via the frontal lobes, teenagers are unable to do so.

Adolescents display a high degree of neuroplasticity: Areas of the brain grow bigger or smaller depending on use and experiences. For this reason, the teenage years are an optimal time for learning. Research suggests that an individual’s IQ can significantly change between the ages of 13 and 17. However, this also means that the teenage brain is vulnerable to addiction of all kinds. Adolescents become addicted to substances or activities more quickly and find it harder to quit. Research shows that adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse cause long-lasting cognitive impairment.

Jensen suggests that adolescents’ constant engagement with the digital world impairs their ability to concentrate. While teenagers believe that they accomplish more when multitasking, research shows that their learning is inhibited, and tasks take longer. Like any other addictive substance, technology use causes the release of dopamine. Research suggests that excessive use of digital devices has negative effects on the adolescent brain.

The author reveals that teenagers suffer more from stress than adults due to the highly sensitive stress-response systems in their brains. Symptoms of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia often first appear in adolescence. There is also increasing evidence that teenagers are particularly vulnerable to concussions. Adolescents’ brains react more extremely than adults to head trauma, and the cognitive effects can be long-lasting. As concussion does not always cause blackouts, Jensen suggests that many teenagers who play contact sports could have undiagnosed brain damage.

In a discussion of crime and punishment, the author suggests that there are neurological reasons why adolescents should not be held to the same standards as adults. The immaturity of teenagers’ frontal lobes means they are less capable of reasonably responding to events and considering the consequences of their actions. The author asserts that the justice system has yet to adequately work out how to treat juveniles.

Jensen concludes by explaining that the brain is not fully developed even by the end of the teenage years. Neural connections are still maturing, and the early to mid-twenties continue to be a period of vulnerability as young adults work out who they are.

Throughout the book, the author offers parental guidance on how to support healthy brain development in teenagers. Jensen recommends talking to teenagers, taking an interest in their interests, and conveying the exciting opportunities available to them during this stage of development. She also suggests that parents should anticipate some level of reckless behavior from their teens. Mistakes should be discussed calmly, but it is also important to set limits on behavior when an adolescent can’t. Jensen asserts that parents need to model good behavior and act as their teenagers’ frontal lobes until they are fully developed. Any signs of substance abuse or mental illness should be dealt with by seeking swift medical assistance.