OFFERS NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Laurence Steinberg, PhD., November 4, 2014 GPS Event
There are
innumerable books written on the difficulties parents encounter when raising
teens. But try to find one book extolling the pleasures and virtues of the
task. Laurence Steinberg Ph.D., a leading expert in adolescence and professor
of psychology at Temple University, ought to know. He’s written seventeen books
and hundreds of articles on teen development.
Now in his
new book Age of Opportunity – Lessons
from the New Science of Adolescence Steinberg wants parents to see this
time in their lives as an opportunity to embrace and enjoy the changes
occurring with their children.
In a two
hour midafternoon presentation on November 4th at Glenbard South High
School Steinberg offered educators and parents the benefit of his forty plus
years of experience. He began with the sobering fact that there is a real
disconnect between what science tells us of adolescence and how it is portrayed
in our popular culture. The United States doesn’t “deal well with adolescence.”
Steinberg explains, “American teens lead the world in obesity, binge drinking, illicit drug use and STDs.”
Girls are
developing into puberty by age twelve. A century ago they didn’t reach puberty
until fourteen and one half. Boys are also maturing two full years earlier than
a century ago. Several factors are at play, including increases in obesity and
the use of chemicals in our environment. Even the increase in children’s
exposure to light, which affects the levels of melatonin they produce, has had
an impact.
Conversely,
it is taking longer for children to move from adolescence to adulthood. Why?
Because teens are staying in school longer, are financially dependent on their
parents longer, and they are taking longer to marry and have children of their
own. As a result, adolescence for today’s children lasts about fifteen years,
which is two times longer then it did when their parents were adolescents.
What
science has discovered about the adolescent brain can help parents to better
understand the changes their teens are experiencing. Generally, during
adolescence people have deeper and richer recollections than at any other time
in their lives. They remember the books they read, the music they listened to,
the movies they saw. This occurs because of the adolescent brain’s neuroplasticity.
Steinberg
explains that during adolescence the brain is still being “built.” It is
transforming itself and is the last time when the brain will ever be that
flexible. In adulthood the brain loses its elasticity. Steinberg uses the
analogy of the difference between being able to remodel or redecorate a house.
Different
parts of the adolescent brain are more elastic at different times. The
pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions like planning,
self-regulation and decision-making, is the last to develop.
Steinberg
believes that self-control is most important to development. Adolescents who
exhibit self-control are happier, succeed more often and have better
relationships. This factor translates into how economists have determined the
four basic rules for avoiding poverty.
1.
Graduate from high school.
2.
Don’t have a child before marriage.
3.
Don’t break the law.
4.
Don’t be idle.
In other words, self-control is the best protection against
negative or risky behavior.
Puberty has
many affects on the brain. It makes the brain more “elastic” which aides in the
acceptance of new information. Also, dopamine is released in greater quantities
at this time intensifying emotions and pleasurable experiences. That is why
teens become “sensation seeking.” They will seek an experience even if there is
risk because the “reward center” in the brain is so activated but the frontal
cortex is still not fully developed. As Steinberg puts it, “Adolescents engage
in risky behavior, not because they are not informed but because they have no
braking system.” To help parents cope with adolescent behavior Steinberg
asserts that we need to “change the context in which adolescents live and not
try to change adolescents.”
As an
example of what he means, Steinberg explains that teen smoking has declined,
not because of adults teaching teens about the health risks but because the
cost went up thus making it harder for teens to obtain cigarettes.
Another
example Steinberg uses is the Graduated Driver’s License program in the State
of Illinois. Teen driving fatalities have fallen, not because we are teaching
them better of the risks of driving but because we have changed the way they
can obtain a driver’s license.
Steinberg
points out that, statistically, the most dangerous time of the day for teens is
between the hours three p.m. to six p.m. when they are least likely to be
monitored by an adult. During these hours teens are more likely to use illicit
drugs, engage in sex or engage in delinquent behavior. One way to curb this
behavior would be to offer after-school programs for teens so that they can be
engaged in productive activities.
Steinberg
maintains that looking at brain science should help shape public policy. He
believes that if we know adolescents can’t think like adults yet then we
shouldn’t be charging them as adults when a crime is committed. If a teen
remains in the juvenile justice system he or she has a better chance of getting
the counseling needed to change behavior.
We know
that American teens do not perform scholastically as well as teens in other
developed countries. This has been attributed to a lack of demand of high
schools students. There is a lack of “rigor” in their coursework. Only one out
of six students’ in high school reports taking a challenging class. Most report
that school is too easy and boring. To help teens parents need to encourage
them to take harder courses and to challenge themselves.
For their
frontal cortex to develop adolescents need to develop determination,
perseverance, and grit. That can only happen when they are challenged and along
the road experience failure and learn to stick with something.
Steinberg
explains that the adolescent brain remains elastic when it is introduced to
“novelty.” He says, “In adulthood we trade a life from unpredictability to
predictability. If a person in his or her twenties can stay in situations that
lend to new experiences it will prolong the brain’s plasticity.”
Above all, Steinberg
wants us to stop thinking of adolescence as a problem and more of an
opportunity. To do that he recommends the following:
1.
Spread the word that adolescence is a time of
brain growth. Resources and funds should be used for adolescents as much as it
is for preschoolers.
2.
We need to better educate parents on how to
parent adolescents.
3.
Make school more challenging for all students.
4.
Realign laws so that they make sense when
dealing with adolescents.
5.
Stop making adolescence a race to get to
adulthood. Make this time more stimulating and challenging for teens.
There are
so many positive experiences to embrace during adolescence. Focusing on those
can make the challenges seem less so.
By Suzanne Burdett
Glenbard parent and freelance writer
