-Need more sleep
It is a myth that teens need less sleep than young children. They need 9 to 10 hours a night, although most fall short.
-Parents are still important
According to Feinstein, a survey of teenagers revealed that 84 percent think highly of their mothers and 89 percent think highly of their fathers. And more than three-quarters of teenagers enjoy spending time with their parents; 79 percent enjoy hanging out with Mom and 76 percent like chilling with Dad.
-Measuring risk
Taken together, these changes may make teens vulnerable to engaging in risky behaviors, such as trying drugs, getting into fights or jumping into unsafe water. By late adolescence, say 17 years old and after, "the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and long-term perspective taking is thought to help them reign in some of the behavior they were tempted by in middle adolescence", according to McNeely and Blanchard.
-Peer pleasure
"As teens become better at thinking abstractly, their social anxiety increase"s, according to research in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published in 2004.
-Intense emotions
"Puberty is the beginning of major changes in the limbic system," Johnson said, referring to the part of the brain that not only helps regulate heart rate and blood sugar levels, but also is critical to the formation of memories and emotions.
-Teen tantrums
Adolescents are in the midst of acquiring incredible new skills sets, especially when it comes to social behavior and abstract thought.
-New thinking skills
"Due to the increase in brain matter, the teen brain becomes more interconnected and gains processing power", Johnson said.
-Blossoming brain
Scientists used to think only infants have an overabundance of neuronal connections, which are "pruned" into a more efficient arrangement over the first three years of life.
-Critical period development
"The brain continues to change throughout life, but there are huge leaps in development during adolescence," said Sara Johnson, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who reviewed the neuroscience in The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development (Johns Hopkins University, 2009) by Clea McNeely and Jayne Blanchard.
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