Puberty and Changes Essay Example

During the transition from childhood to adulthood, the brain undergoes many adjustments that are hard to keep up with as a teen. The stage of adolescence is a time when people are faced with both social and physical changes. What most people don’t know is that these changes can cause people to act in certain ways that might not be “normal” for that person. Changes in a teenager's brain can cause changes in behavior such as moodiness and self consciousness. 

When a teenager is moody or has an attitude most people just assume that they are just having a bad day, but really they are having a bad couple of years. The transition from childhood to adulthood is from the age to 13 to 19 and the brain is always changing. Andrew states, “They move away from being solely dependent on their parents and place a greater reliance on their friends.” This causes the teens to gravitate towards caring more about how they can fit in even if that means breaking rules or disobeying their parents. This is where the attitude comes in. Parents don’t realize how much their child is going through at this time which creates emotional distance. Source 2 states, “During adolescence, teens go through an essential dilemma. They believe they have to live up to others’ expectations while also figuring out who they are.” This confusion can result in lashing out at parents or siblings because teens think they are the only one going through this and have no one to turn to for advice. During this time, teens are struggling to find their identity after all of these changes their bodys and minds put them through.

Puberty is one of the biggest parts of becoming an adult; however, with puberty comes self consciousness. The human body is rapidly changing and growing during the adolescent years, for some it can be exciting, for others it can be extremely difficult to get used to. Blackemore performed a study on teenagers where they were put in a brain scanner to see which part of the brain was active when they were embarrassed. Blackemore found that, “when they are forced to think about themselves, a part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex becomes much more engaged.” Blakemore adds, “This is much more active during such emotional moments in teenagers than adults.” This is why teens start to slouch or hunch over because they aren’t comfortable with how their bodies are changing yet. Being confident in your own skin is challenging for a lot of people but especially for teens.  

In conclusion, changes in a young adult's brain can cause changes in the way they act and the way they think about themselves. From ages 13-19 the brain is rapidly changing which alters the way they go about making certain decisions including mouthing off to parents and acting differently to fit in. Also during this time, adolescents are going through puberty which can change the way they see and think about themselves. Overall, teens aren’t being moody or self conscious on purpose, their brains are just changing and they are trying to figure it all out.