The frequent expression of alarm over the ways of the young is certainly nothing new. Socrates supposedly said: “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when their elders enter the room; the contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannise their teachers.”
And this was spoken around 440BC! It helps to make the point that adults throughout history have been alarmed by the behaviour of young people. Fortunately, civilisation has not yet come to an end because of the rebelliousness of teenagers. I would like to look inside the teenage brain to give you some insight.
Children and teens perceive things differently from adults. Therefore the burden of responsibility for their safety lies squarely on the shoulders of parents, educators and other relevant adults. From early adolescence to mid-20s, the teenager’s brain develops unevenly from back to front, which explains their heightened risk taking behaviour, impulsiveness and self-consciousness. In fact the brain only matures around 25 years of age.
Studies have shown that the frontal lobe, our wisdom centre, responsible for decision making, reasoning and planning does not function fully in teens. That would suggest that they aren’t thinking through the consequences of their behaviour. One of these fascinating studies required teens and adults to view images that required them to predict the future. What did they discover? In adults, the frontal lobe that predicts consequence was activated, but in teens it was the emotional centre that was fired up.
Why is this the case? Research suggests that this ensures that children can learn. Think about learning to ride a bike…fall off – get on – try again. Because teens are not wired to see consequences; we have the responsibility to be their frontal lobe until they develop their own.”
FWI News January 2015
Speech by Wendy Briscoe
