Adolescent Brain Development

List and describe the three most important structural changes in the brain during adolescence and how they change

The author of the article states that there is no better time than now to review how we are raising teenagers for many reasons. First and foremost there have been many strides taken recently to understand how the adolescent brain develops, strengthening ones understanding, and in turn, shedding light on errors made in the way adolescents are being raised in relation to their neuro-development. This means that because scientists have learned substantial information about the brain recently, it is important to reevaluate how parents are raising teenagers now more than ever. Second, according to the article it is a good time to review how we are raising teenagers because children are becoming adolescents earlier based on their physical maturation increasing faster each year, therefore it is important to examine why this is occurring. Finally, the author states that there is no better time to review how we are raising teenagers because of the recent discovery that the brain is malleable during adolescence due to neuroplasticity, meaning that the brain is able to be transformed during this time period solely based on the environment in which these individuals are exposed to, as per the article (Steinberg, 2014).

The female, sex organs include the vagina, fallopian tubes, ovaries uterus and so forth. The male sex organs consist of the penis, testes, seminal vesicles, prostate gland, and scrotum. During puberty, both female and male organs enlarge and mature (Papalia, 2015, pp. 326-327). The biological view suggests the foundation for pubertal timing and tempo in “secondary sexual characteristics are (breast, genitals, pubic hair), reproductive capability, height, weight, and accompanying psychological and behavioral changes” (Marceau et al., 2014). Primary and secondary sexual characteristics and vast changes accompany rapid body growth for both genders in puberty (Berk, 2015, p. 397). However, in view, it is essential that adults become aware of potential warning signs of physical maturing adolescents both early and late. For instance, are late developing boys and early maturing girls as they appear to be at an increased risk for many problems, including depression (Graber, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Perry, 2000 in American Psychological Association,

The developing brain of adolescent humans and the hormones released in this period of growth definitely had an impact on the two. Sigmund Freud said adolescence

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous illness that may involve several pathophysiological gender differences. For men and women incidence risk peaks between 20-29 years of age, and women also have a second risk peak between 30–39 years of age. Negative symptoms including low motivation and withdrawal are more frequent in men and appear up to six years before diagnosis (Hafner, 2005; Hafner et al., 1993; Morgan et al., 2008). Women exhibit greater levels of depression and positive symptoms including sexual inappropriateness, impulsivity and delusions (Mendrek et al., 2015; Van der Werf et al., 2014). Sex differences in either age of onset or prevalence of negative symptoms are not as evident in patients that have a family history of schizophrenia (Bergen et al., 2014; Hafner et al., 1998).

In the article "Gender differences in coerced patients with schizophrenia" by Nawka, et al., it was found that schizophrenia symptoms differ between men and women. For example, the symptoms of schizophrenia often start in an earlier age in men than it does in women. Males show more intense signs of negative symptoms, less intense signs of positive symptoms, cognitive impairment, more aggressive

In this paperm the adolescent period has been noted as a period of high stress. This paper links the changes in the hypothalamus with major depressive disorder by analyzing specific groups of young people ages 12-17. The findings of the scientist suggest that changes in cortisol levels can be attributed to external stimuli regardless of gender, nationality, or time the person goes through puberty. These external stimuli can be placed in a range of environmental factors and these young people being exposed to abusive situations whether physical or verbal, social, economical, and many others. The key to this study and others like it is that every person who expresses depressive indicators is different. Therefore, one individuals’ trigger may not be someone

The brain is a major target organ for action of estrogens in both men and women. Estrogen’s neuroactive effects are multifaceted and encompass a system that ranges from the chemical to the biochemical treatment to the genomic mechanisms, protecting brain against a wide range of neurotoxic insults. Circulating estradiol enters the cell nucleus where it can bind two types of receptors, ERα or ERβ. The complexes act as nuclear transcription factors by binding to an ERE (Estrogen response element) and stimulating gene transcription which leads to increase in cellular proteins that, by increasing neural transmission function, enhance cognitive function. Estrogen plays important neurotrophic and neuroprotective roles during adulthood and indirectly

As adolescents, our brains are just starting to develop to help our bodies and our personalities mature. Hormonal changes in boys and girls include adrenarche, gonadarche, and menarche (King 2002). Adrenarche usually begins when a child is between the ages of 6 and 8 and controls skeletal growth, skin changes, and hair growth. Gonadarche contributes to the growth of genitals and breasts and menarche refers to the beginning of girl’s menses. Menarche comes later in the advanced stages. Although these phases of development happen outside of the brain, they are the first change that an adolescent goes through and the increase in hormones can cause mood swings and different ways of thinking.

Adolescence is the period in one’s life when there are new experiences that set off unfamiliar emotions and evoke unusual actions in response to the stimuli. This stage in one’s life may be overwhelming and confusing because he/she is not a child anymore nor an adult. Adolescents are receiving more responsibilities, more expectations, and more difficult tasks to complete in order to transition into an adult. Even though this means more freedom and more opportunities, growing up is not easy. It is not a surprise to know that adolescents are getting stressed from the cluster of events in this stage of life. Stress is a normal part of everyday life; however, a continuous cycle of being highly stressed is a dangerous situation for an

Pubertal hormones bring on feelings of being more attentive to how people think of you. Also, depression is more likely to become an issue during these hormonal surges. When all of this begins to occur prematurely, it leaves the child at a deficit of being able to adequately handle it. “It’s one of the most robust findings in studies of psychological development,” says Dr. Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University, and author of Age of Opportunity: Lessons From the New Science of Adolescence. He is referring to recent research demonstrating how earlier-maturing girls are more likely to become depressed.” (Scutti, 2015)

After birth, the nervous system works to develop the rest of the system and for the child to have core motor skills by the age of three. By the age of six, the brain will almost be to its full size, and the system is functioning for the child to have their personality, emotional responses, and reflexes to begin to finalize what they will be for a majority of the life span. Puberty begins around 11 for girls and 12 for boys, thus the anterior pituitary gland begins to release the hormones needed to let the body develop. The frontal lobe is still not fully developed at this age, which allows for poor judgement and loss of control of emotions as a high amount of hormones are now pumping through the body. The nervous system works to balance out any discrepancies in emotional balance, bodily growth, and personality developments in this stage of life. Adulthood occurs when puberty is over between age 17 and 22, and the brain reaches

Puberty marks a changeover in mental health, with the differences in predominance rate and sex ratios of mental and behavioral disorders after the pubertal transition. Early puberty is connected to a growth risk for consecutive mental health and behavioral problems. There has been different studies to find that early or late onset of puberty is correlated with mental health and behavioral problems.

Estrogens appear to enhance spatial learning and memory. As previous mentioned, there are sex differences in hippocampus-dependent cognition tasks, implying that there are sex hormones involved. There is sufficient evidence demonstrating that estrogen interacts with the reproductive cycle and in turn modulates hippocampal learning, memory and neurogenesis. However, the way in which estrogen effects learning and memory, from adolescence to adulthood, is dependent upon the type of estrogen, the duration, timing and dose of treatment, and the influence the effects of estrogen had on cognition and neurogenesis. There seems to be a correlation between spatial learning, estrogen and ones life cycle (age). Typically spatial learning is favorable in males, however, in terms of females spatial learning differs based on ones estrous cycle. The reason for this is because as both estradiol and progesterone fluctuate during ones estrous and menstrual cycle, each hormone contributes differently to learning and memory. In recent studies examining the relationship between estradiol and learning and memory, it was found that motherhood enhanced spatial learning and memory.

There are five characteristics that all adolescents have. These characteristics are biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self. The brain and the endocrine system control biological growth and development. During the early stages of adolescence, individuals experience growth in height and weight, changes in the body, the development of sexual characteristics, and skin problems. For example, I started getting curves in my body when I hit puberty. My body started to develop changes. Our society’s expectations for children and adults are clear, but for the adolescent, expectations are inexplicit. Some adolescents are treated like children, but some are treated like adults. There is an undefined status. For example, my parents pay for my lunch, but I have to have a job so I can support myself.