Woman's Hour - Parenting: The Teenage Brain

Episode Date: April 10, 2019

What makes the adolescent brain different and why is it that an easy child can become a challenging teenager? Jenni talks about risky behaviour and how to limit it with the neuroscientist Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, author of Inventing Ourselves - The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain.

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BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello, Jenny Murray welcoming you to this week's Woman's Hour podcast for parents. You kind of know it's going to happen, but it still comes as a terrible shock when your co-operative, obedient, delightful child suddenly becomes a door slammer, an answerer back, a stomper off to his or her room

when ticked off for doing something really stupid and probably dangerous. Yes, it's the teenager. And we all went through it just as our own offspring will. But what is it that makes the change so inevitable? Well, Sarah-Jane Blakemore is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and the author of Inventing Ourselves, The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain. Why do lovely children turn into difficult teenagers? Well, there are probably lots of reasons. And the first thing to say is that not all do. There are lots of individual differences. But I think we all remember what it's like to be a teenager. It's a time of transition and it can be difficult

and that's for lots of reasons. There are social changes moving from small primary schools to big secondary schools. There are hormonal changes of puberty but there are also very large changes going on in the brain during the teenage years. Now it is adolescence, we call it adolescence. Does it only apply to the human being or do the effects on the brain occur in animals as well? Adolescence, interestingly, is not just specific to humans. All animals go through a period of development between going through puberty and becoming fully sexually mature adults. And interestingly, you can measure behaviour during what you might call adolescence in animals. And lots of scientists do this around the world, particularly in mice and rats who go through about 30 days of adolescence. And you can see increases in behaviours that we typically associate with human adolescence. So things like risk taking, and being imp impulsive and very big changes

in social behaviour. There was one study published a few years ago showing that adolescent mice drink more alcohol when they're with other mice and that's not true for adult mice. You include a teenage diary which I think was from 1969 in the book. Why did you pick that? Because what's it significant? It's such a beautiful illustration of what it's like to be a teenager. I've got it here, so I'll read it out. There's nothing like teenage diaries for putting momentous historical events in perspective. This is my entry for the 20th of July, 1969. I went to Art Centre by myself in yellow cords and blouse. Ian was there, but he didn't speak to me. Got a rhyme put in my handbag from someone who's apparently got a crush on me.

It's Nicholas, I think. Oh, man landed on moon. It's incredible, isn't it? Just on pass on, somebody landed on the moon. But what do we know then about what is actually going on in the teenage brain? What have been the most significant breakthroughs? Because I think the work in the past 20 years has changed enormously. Absolutely.

When I was an undergraduate in the mid-90s, I was taught that the human brain stops developing in childhood. I have my undergraduate textbooks, that's what they say. We now know that that's completely false. And in fact, research using MRI brain scanning technology over the past 20 years has shown that the human brain not only develops throughout childhood, but also continues to develop very substantially right throughout adolescence and only starts to stabilise in the mid-twenties. So why then do teenagers tend to engage in risky behaviour even when they've been extremely well brought up? What's going on in their brain? It's a very interesting question and again

the first thing to say is that there are big individual differences. Some teenagers take risks but others don't and the other thing about risk taking in the teenage years, so if you think about the risks that we typically worry about teenagers taking, like smoking or binge drinking or experimenting with drugs or even dangerous driving, those are risks that teenagers don't tend to take when they're on their own. It's when they're with their friends. So the social context and social pressure and social influence is a really key factor in adolescent risk taking. So they're just showing off? Well, I don't know if it's just showing off. I think there's a lot of evidence showing that the drive to be included by your peer group and not to be socially excluded is heightened in adolescence

because none of us likes to be socially excluded. We all like to be invited to parties and not to be ostracized by our peers. But that feeling of that negative feeling we get if we're not invited to something or if we are socially excluded is higher in adolescence than it is in adults. So they have a drive to be included by their peer group. And it's all part of becoming gradually becoming an independent adult where you have to become independent from your parents and more affiliated with your peer group now we all know that teenagers can be painfully embarrassed usually by their parents their father might be dancing their mother might be behaving in a way that is not acceptable to the child

do we know why they get so embarrassed? Yeah, I know all about that at the moment. My children are teenagers and very embarrassed by me. And there's a very nice story of one of my friends where he said that the difference that he noticed when his daughters went from before puberty to after puberty was their levels of embarrassment, particularly in front of him. So before puberty, if they were messing around in a supermarket, he'd say, stop messing around and I'll sing your favourite song. And they would stop

and he'd sing in public. And after puberty, that was the threat. The very idea of their dad singing in public was enough to make them behave. So why is this? It's something that I think most teenagers do go through, this intense feeling of self-consciousness. Adolescence is all about developing your sense of self and who you are Adolescence is all about developing your sense of self and who you are. So I think you do become more aware of yourself and how other people see you. There was a study by Leah Somerville in Harvard in America a couple of years ago showing that the brain responds differently and the body responds differently when teenagers think they're being watched. So if you scan the brains of children

and teenagers and adults, and occasionally you tell them when a red light comes on, that indicates that you're being observed by someone your own age. That condition where they think they're being watched results in heightened embarrassment, heightened stress as measured by sweat on the skin, and heightened activity of parts of the social brain in adolescence compared to children and adults. So there's a biological reason why teenagers feel particularly embarrassed. Why is teenage the most risky time for the development of mental illness? Yeah, so mental health problems mostly start in adolescence. It's been estimated that 75% of mental health problems start before the age of 24,

mostly during the teenage years and the early 20s. Why is the million-dollar question? It's what many scientists around the world are trying to figure out, and there are probably lots of reasons. It's a time of huge change there's the social changes um you become very aware of what your friends think about you and how um society is treating you um you start to become more aware of your place in society and your future um you're going through big sex hormonal changes which we know have an impact on mood and in addition to that your brain is changing in a very substantial way and all those factors

together the social and the biological probably make this period of life a vulnerable period for mental illness now one of the things you write is that they will respond better to reward than to punishment. What does that teach us about actually how to handle them? There is quite a lot of evidence from lots of different developmental psychology labs showing that adolescents respond better to reward than to punishment and they respond better to immediate rewards than long term rewards. And they respond better to immediate consequences of their actions than to talking about the long term consequences of their actions. Now, I think what that means in terms of if we think about public health, trying to encourage young people to make healthy decisions, like, for example, healthy eating or not taking risks with smoking or binge drinking or even things like bullying around bullying.

We know that focusing on the long term potential health or legal risks of those decisions doesn't really work in the teenage years. It's more about the moment than now, and particularly the social consequences. We know from public health research, for example, that, for example, in the context of bullying, a big study in America with 56 schools, half the schools carried out their anti-bullying campaigns as usual with the teachers running them. And half the schools, the young people, the children themselves carried out their own anti-bullying campaigns like debates and parties and wristband campaigns. And in those schools where the anti-bullying campaigns were led by the children, they showed a 25% decrease in bullying incidents over the subsequent year compared with where the children, they showed a 25% decrease in bullying incidents over the subsequent year

compared with the schools where the anti-bullying campaigns were run by teachers. Young people respond really well to campaigns and messages run by each other, by other young people. And that makes sense. We know that young people are very influenced by their peer group and by their friends. I was talking to Professor Sarah-Jane Blakemore and Kate sent an email. She said, I have a 14-year-old daughter. She was always lovely, engaged, asking questions, lively and sociable. But as a teenager, she's often moody, sulky and likes to be in splendid isolation. I was taken aback when it happened because I'd forgotten quite how awful it is at times to be a teenager. So she and I keep the communication channels open as much as possible

and we talk about how she's feeling and liken it to being in a spin wash, hormones all over the place and never knowing really how you're feeling or why you feel the way you do. I give her space and boundaries but pick my battles and praise as much as possible because her anxieties have increased and self-esteem has slumped. Dr Alex Sigman and Natasha Devon have both visited her school to talk about teenage brains and development, and it's been fascinating.

I take comfort in knowing it doesn't last forever and that whatever she's displaying is difficult but normal teenage behaviour, and it's not going to last. Mandy said, I have three children, 16, 14 and 12. I think my 14-year-old son may be vaping and may be using weed. Just discovered this and your piece today is really well timed. Not sure how to bring this subject up with him. It's a terrifying time as a parent and as a child. Julie emailed, I have two teenage daughters. The eldest is 17 and just beginning A-level exams here in Germany.

Consequently, we're having some interesting moments at home. In her lucid teenage moments, she does realise that her behaviour can be extreme, which is fabulous. My response, I don't mind being a sponge, but I won't be a doormat. And Hayley emailed, I don't have teenage children yet, although my nine-year-old daughter certainly has some big hormonal mood swings already. But Lattie, my two-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever, had an awful, stroppy, defiant teenage phase at around 18 months. She'd definitely have slammed doors if she were able, and I'm sure she gave me more than one eye roll she also took to not listening

and used to talk back via yawning if we told her off well thank you for all your contributions to this podcast for parents and don't forget we're always looking for ideas if there are things you'd like us to discuss do let us know you can email or you can tweet for today bye bye We're always looking for ideas. If there are things you'd like us to discuss, do let us know.

You can email or you can tweet. For today, bye-bye. I'm Sarah Trelevan, and for over a year, I've been working on one of the most complex stories I've ever covered. There was somebody out there who was faking pregnancies. I started, like, warning everybody. Every doula that I know. It was fake.

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