Teens' Brains Key To Their Impulsiveness

(AP)  The teenage brain, Laurence Steinberg says, is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses under poor control, the likely result is a crash.

And, perhaps, a crime.

Steinberg, a Temple University psychology professor, helped draft an American Psychological Association brief for a 2005 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18.

That ruling relies on the most recent research on the adolescent brain, which indicates the juvenile brain is still maturing in the teen years and reasoning and judgment are developing well into the early to mid 20s. It is often cited as state lawmakers consider scaling back punitive juvenile justice laws passed during the 1990s.

"As any parent knows," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the 5-4 majority, youths are more likely to show "a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility" than adults. "... These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions."

He also noted that "juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure," causing them to have less control.

Some child advocates have pointed to the Supreme Court decision and the research as evidence that teens - even those accused of serious crimes - should not be regarded in the same way as adults in the criminal justice system.

Dr. David Fassler, a psychiatry professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine who has testified before legislative committees on brain development, says the research doesn't absolve teens but offers some explanation for their behavior.

"It doesn't mean adolescents can't make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong," he said. "It does mean, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional decisions, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences of their actions."

Experts say that even at ages 16 and 17, when compared to adults, juveniles on average are more:

impulsive.

aggressive.

emotionally volatile.

likely to take risks.

reactive to stress.

vulnerable to peer pressure.

prone to focus on short-term payoffs and underplay longer-term consequences of what they do.

likely to overlook alternative courses of action.

Violence toward others also tends to peak in adolescent years, says psychiatrist Dr. Peter Ash of Emory University in Georgia. It's mostly likely to start around age 16, and people who haven't committed a violent crime by age 19 only rarely start doing it later, he said.

The good news here, he said, is that a violent adolescent doesn't necessarily become a violent adult. Some two-thirds to three-quarters of violent youth grow out of it, he said. "They get more self-controlled."

Some of the changes found in behavioral studies are paralleled by changes in the brain itself as youths become adults.

In fact, in the past few years, Steinberg said, brain scans have given biological backing to commonsense notions about teen behavior, like their impulsiveness and vulnerability to peer pressure.

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[aheadofcrowd]

Look at this example to give you some reality on this:

If you go through your emails and see one from your boss, you may have a certain hemisphere of your brain go into action but the next email you read is a joke from a friend and now, other parts of your brain are moving chemicals around and a scan would show activity in possibly many parts of the brain.
And the next is from a love interest and a scan would show something else at that moment.

What I''m trying to explain in this example is that the MIND and emotion is what''s important, not the brain. You can think a million things all of which will cause constant shifts in brain activity. Brain activity is not a constant. It is forever changing with each moment and each thought and each emotion.

There is a medical condition called hydrocephalus, where people literally have almost no brain matter and function just as anyone else on the street. What do all the brain studies say about them?
http://www.mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=694

There are definitely certain brain disorders such as Alzheimer''s and autism,
but psychiatrists and drug companies are tying to sell brain drugs intended to "treat" undesirable thoughts, emotion, bad decisions, socially unacceptable behaviors and bad habits. This article is little more than a press release by a drug company ready to sell some new brain drugs.

Take a look at this site to see what brain drugs have done to people.

http://www.ssristories.com/index.php

[greeneyes222]

"state lawmakers consider scaling back punitive juvenile justice laws passed during the 1990s."

Scaling back justice is the last thing that should happen. The victims of juveniles are still victims, and the punishment should fit the crime.

Of course teenagers are impulsive, no one needed a study to prove that. But children are capable of learning right from wrong from an early age, that is one of the many jobs of parents and society. This study is scientifically interesting in that it explains what we already know, but using it as a basis to change the justice system is absolutely the wrong message to send.

[grammawhamma]

I raised 4 daughters to adulthood. Teens are their own breed but please...if they don''t know that commiting a crime is wrong by age 16 there is a big problem. My 4 year old grandchild even knows when she did something wrong.

Stop pampering your kids at this age...instead teach them responsibilty and respect for others and cut the apron strings!!

[bbrundj]

And to think, teenagers are allowed to drive at 16...with teenage passengers.

[rfrankmoore]

This is pure bs. There is no excuse for not getting it right.

[edward1975-2009]

MylDonCBS: These kids know right from wrong. And to make the excuse they don''t is hogwash. Do you not realize that gangs have figured out that if they use a juvenile to shoot people, the kid does limited time for this. Anytime you lower the bar because of perceived differences, you fail the individuals your trying to help. If anything make it tougher and maybe, just maybe, you''ll save future lives.

[myidoncbs]

aheadofthecrowd makes the typical authoritarian error when he/she says, "Repairing self-respect and getting these kids to take responsibility for their actions is what we need to do to help them."

There''s nothing wrong with trying to teach kids respect and responsibility, but here''s a question for you: If their brains don''t work properly, how are you going to "teach" them these things that they are physically unable to learn? If their brain doesn''t have the wiring for impulse control, what good is your "teaching" going to do? None!

Children are NOT adults. It is IN.SANE to pretend that they are. If a child commits an "adult crime", that does NOT make him/her an adult. To treat them as adults is to demand the impossible from them. To demand the impossible of our children is not only cruel, it is an indication of in.san.ity on the part of the adults who make the unreasonable demand.

I''m NOT saying we should let kids get away with anything they like. That would be stu.pid! But we need to recognize that they are different, and we have to treat them appropriately.

aheadofthecrowd jumps to the unwarranted conclusion that this article is part of a conspiracy to sell drugs to "cure" a "new disease" someday in the future. I suppose that could be true, but he has NO EVIDENCE that it is so. OTOH, what the article says about brain development IS true. So we should think about what might be a good way to deal with the facts, rather than speculate about some imagined conspiracy.

[edward1975-2009]

staycalm: Being the father of 4 boys I can sympathize with you, but at 18 , if he doesn''t have a clue, start now. Granted males mature later than females, but by now he should have an idea about which way is up. And as a parent I would love for lawmakers to change laws like, your child can withdraw from school without parental permission and he doesn''t reach his majority till 21, but these are the times we live in.

[baptox]

I think this research is very relevant. The influence of peer pressure seems to be particularly relevant to our world today, as our American attitude of over-consumption and materialism are exported to other countries.
This is one example of where religious teachings and education used to counter balance the negative aspects of culture and help young people forge values of resistence to unhealthy behaviors.

[staycalm]

We made a big mistake lowering the age of adulthood to 18 from 21. As the parent of a soon-to-be 18 year-old, I can testify that I am nearer to being Marilyn Monroe than he is to being an adult. Throughout history, 21 has been the age of majority and for good reasons that we are only now beginning to prove scientifically. I would like to see this country return the age of adulthood to 21.