[Selenay]

Originally Posted by evolveme

The brains of teenagers are not fully formed. Their frontal lobes are "sluggish." They are high on impulsiveness and weak on decision making skill. This article from NPR came about when a pediatric neurologist decided to study what the heck was up with her teenage sons and why they appeared to be making such ridiculous decisions.

It isn't believed that brains are fully developed until into the twenties. So, I agree with Medusa, that while we can (must) hold these teenagers responsible for the poor choices they are making (we have to teach all kids to be accountable for themselves), it is really the parents here who must own what has occurred. Constance and every other teenager like her deserves that much.

Right, that's entirely accurate and may full well explain why I, and so many other teenagers and early twenty-somethings are more apt to say, "Well. It seemed like a good idea, at the time..." than are our older counterparts.


However, there is a large difference between an impulse decision and a series of impulse decisions. If I decide that it's a really good idea to skip class and take a nap, that's an impulse decision that may not be the right one. If I decide it's a really good idea to skip class every monday for the rest of the semester, I do not think that falls under the category of my poor frontal lobe connectors.

There is a huge difference between the postulation that teens are unable to appropriately judge the consequences of their actions in the moment, and being unable to judge them in the long term--and this article does not confirm or deny that it applies to long term decisions, it focuses on singular decisions (with the exception of the goth change, which could also be attributed to the studies done on the effects of peer pressure on teenagers, in regards to their underdeveloped frontal lobe; i'd be happy to look for that article if someone is curious about it. )