Recent brain research has found that teenagers’ brains undergo an “extensive renovation” from a burst of growth in brain synapses, a process that may last until the mid-20s. Scientists involved in the research say this may help explain emotional swings and why teens are more likely than those of other ages to crash a car, engage in risky sex, drug abuse, or delinquency. A similar “synaptic spurt” occurs shortly after birth, but a teen’s otherwise-adult body makes the effects of this spurt more pronounced.
Ultimately, though, excess synapses are pruned, and the final result is that the spurt gives the brain “a new capacity for learning” and helps it make the transition to adulthood. Unfortunately for many parents of teens, though, the part of the brain that controls decision-making, judgment and impulse control is the last to mature. There is a bright side: studies by the National Institute of Mental Health indicate that the longer the brain takes to mature, the smarter it will become.
