Category Archives: Adolescent Brain

Testosterone, Progesterone, and Gender Roles

Adolescent Brain, Biological & Cognitive Development in Adolescence

Before continuing with this MVP response, I would like to plainly say that I haven’t taken a biology class since 9th grade and do not consider myself to be a scientist or expert on the human body. But, that being said, I do have one and think that that counts for something.

This particular article, when I read paragraph after paragraph regarding the physical and neurological changes all of our bodies go through during puberty, I couldn’t help but note how deeply engrained our perceptions, and reactions to them, are to prescribed gender roles.

How much of this is nature and how much of it is nurture? Will young boys that reach puberty later than others continue to (in general) have feelings of inferiority if they grow up in a society that doesn’t define masculinity largely on athletic ability, physical size and height, and penis size? Will young girls that develop earlier than others continue to (in general) feel self conscious about their bodies if they grow up in a society that doesn’t over sexualize young girls? How much of the blame for the pressure that children transition into is our collective fault for creating a society which actively and cyclically foments this?

I think social constructs regarding gender and gender roles still largely dictate MANY of the decisions and perspectives of adults. It’s not like we turn 20/21 and all of a sudden, toxic masculinity and sexism cease to affect our lived experiences.

Gender roles sometimes stick with us longer than puberty.

 

Brown, Knowles (2007) Understanding the Young Adolescent’s Physical and Cognitive Growth. p.25

Side note and personal vendetta: Yet another article that lightly mentions that: “Researchers have noted that African American females reach puberty several months earlier on average than Caucasian females (Daniels et al. 1998).” (page 18), but provides no further information on the topic.

Blame on the brain, not on me

Adolescent Brain, Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond

“Certainly social pressures are part of adolescent vulnerability, but perhaps more important is that the teenage brain lends itself to highly motivated exploration of the world in order to learn how to be an adult. This is the time to take risks! Apparently the stage of the brain construction during adolescence makes the brain more vulnerable to addiction that at any other time in life.” (Philip, 2006, p165)

Adolescents are more vulnerable to drug, alcohol and tobacco addiction, and parents usually think that their kids are going through a special stage where they easily get tempted by this kind of things. As it mentioned in the article, there are various reasons why teenagers become addicted, for example stress, emotional problems, family history, etc. Some parents understand that their kids at this age have great curiosity about things that only adults can do, want to explore the new outside world by themselves and enjoy the excitement of breaking the rules; however, the real reason is often neglected by parents that it is actually the brain construction that makes young adolescents more vulnerable. There are a lot of brain changes during adolescence such as loss of neuronal connections and forming of new connections, which lead to teenagers’ impulsive and risk-taking behaviors. Therefore, it would not be helpful if parents and teachers always blame teenagers on the addiction issues because in fact it’s not all their fault, the brain changes are something that they cannot control. Continue reading Blame on the brain, not on me →

Cosmetic Neurology: The Next Big Thing?

Adolescent Brain, Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond

“While cognitive enhancers were originally developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s patients, they can also be used as biochemical memory aids for the general population. In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, what struggling junior or senior in high school wouldn’t welcome the edge a memory pill could offer? What about university students, overworked air traffic controllers, medical students, and aspiring actors whose livelihoods depend on being able to flawlessly recall large quantities of information?” (Philip, 2006, 182)

Continue reading Cosmetic Neurology: The Next Big Thing? →

“This is your brain on drugs.”

Adolescent Brain, Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond, Urban Adolescents

“In the school settings, teenagers draw conclusions about alcohol and drug abuse from what they see and hear from their friends, classmates, and teachers.” -Philip (2006) This is your brain on….:Understanding and curbing adolescent substance abuse.

When I read the blurb on the Education Connection in this chapter of Philip’s, I couldn’t help but think back to my middle and high school years in health class. Yes, I had the stereotypical health class where we talked about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, abusive relationships, teen pregnancy, and amongst other cliché topics health teachers are forced to talk about with adolescents. But, what striked me the most was the quote on how “teenagers believe that there has always been an association between fried eggs and your brain!” which is entirely true because I remember that’s how the topic for open discussion on drug abuse began in class. Of course, this didn’t do anything to make my fellow classmates think twice about the dangers of becoming into contact with drugs.

I grew up in a typical mostly white middle class suburban town where I could say drugs weren’t “openly visible,” but however some of my classmates did have some crazy parties where there was obviously underage drinking ongoing as well as the usage of marijuana and perhaps other types of ilicit drugs. Once in awhile, these parties would be busted by the local police and the host of the party just got a slap on the wrist for his/her wrongdoings. It wasn’t until after I graduate in 2009 that I started to hear how my town was slowly becoming a commonplace for known heroin users where at least 3 of my classmates have overdosed and died from the disease. What I am trying to say is: these “scare tactics” that the author mentioned definitely don’t work. Teenagers will always be walking around with the mentality that they are invincible and will never succumb to the drug like Brian did with cocaine in this chapter, but there needs to be “expections and penalities regarding use by students, they help reinforce the fact that underage drug use is not an acceptable form of behavior” (Philip, 2006).

The impact of physical changes on adolescents

Adolescent Brain, Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond, Urban Adolescents

#MVP 4 The impact of physical changes on adolescents

I really enjoyed reading Brown and Knowles’ article “Understanding the young adolescent’s physical and cognitive growth” because it addressed two important aspects of this special stage—physical changes and cognitive growth during adolescence, and it made me think about that as teachers, what can we do to respond appropriately to these dramatic changes? Here I focus on physical changes.

 

This article listed several physical changes happened in males and females. For example, female young adolescents experience weight gains, breast development and menstruation which are the main concerns for them and create challenges as well so that most of them see these in a very negative way. I remember one of my friends cried for a whole night when she first got her period and she didn’t even know why she acted like that, and she just knew that there’s something really bad happened. Also, I remember once in our gym class, a girl was in her period but felt very embarrassed to tell our male teacher so that she did a lot of intense exercise with other classmates but fainted after class.  I think the teacher should have asked at the very beginning of the class in order not to make students feel embarrassed about this. For males, one of the major changes is their deepening voice. However, adolescents experience this at different age and rate, which could be a problem for some students. For example, some boys who haven’t gone through a voice change (high to low) would be laughed at by their peers and labeled as girlish.

 

Additionally, other aspects such as nutrient needs, insatiable and peculiar appetite, and sleep needs of adolescents were presented. These are all normal things, nevertheless young people develop different thoughts since they would like to compare with each other and often times turn the differences among them into feelings of inadequacy and deficiency. As teachers, we should be aware of the huge impact that physical changes have on adolescents’ development and be responsible to guide them in the right way to view these changes.  We can encourage them to talk about these things and express their feelings to adults, either parents or teachers, and provide them the accurate information to eliminate their doubts and concerns.