Worried parents often wish they could peer into the minds of their troubled teenagers.
Now scientists have revealed scans of exactly what goes on in a teenager’s brain when they rebel DailyMail reports.
The results show how rebellion is often triggered by a young person’s need to assert individuality, as well as a desire to separate from their parents.
The study recorded images of teenage brains as they responded to videos of peers and, separately, videos of their parents.
‘The more they were activating a central part of the brain to the unfamiliar peer versus to their parents, the more risky the behaviour was that they were reporting,’ said Darby Saxbe, assistant professor of psychology at University of Southern California.
Researchers tracked the brain activity of 22 teens, ages 16 to 18, through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
The psychologists found that the MRIs of teens who reported engaging in the most risky behaviours — sex, drug use or reckless driving, for instance – were more responsive to watching videos of other teens than videos of their parents.
Researchers say that when the rebellious teens saw the videos, a central region of their brains responded more to their peers than to their parents.
In fact, the MRIs revealed a spike in activity in the precuneus – a portion of the brain that controls awareness about the thoughts and behaviours of others.
Although studies have shown that teens tend to hang out more with their peers than their parents as they reach adulthood, Saxbe said that parents shouldn’t let their teens separate entirely.
She added that the results seem to indicate that parents should be sure to maintain a strong bond with their children, even when they become adolescents.
Based on this study, the potential lesson for teens and their families is ‘Keep your friends close but your parents close, too,’ Saxbe said.
The study follows research by Duke University last year into how teenage brains are different to adults – and why this makes them more likely to rebel.
The research found that during adolescence, the limbic system connects and communicates with the rest of the brain differently than it does during adulthood.
This leaves many adolescents vulnerable to riskier behaviours, the team found.
‘This disconnect can lead mid-adolescents to process untrustworthiness in different ways,’ he said.
‘If you look at mid-adolescents, they don’t rate trustworthiness the same as adults or younger or older adolescents.
‘There are clearly some changes happening in the mid-adolescent brain in how regions talk to each other, and can lead to behavioural differences in how trust is established.’
