Doing drugs, smoking, sneaking out, drinking alcohol, fighting peers and yelling at adults. Teenagers are the reigning kings and queens of bad behavior.
There are plenty of causes underlying bad behavior. Life changes, bullying, abuse, learning disabilities, health issues, poor parenting, stress, trauma, neglect and brain development can all cause kids to act out in ways the adults find frustrating. Bad behavior occurs every once in a while with most individuals. Why do teens take bad behavior to the extremes though? The answer: brain development.
Teenagers’ brains are constantly developing, and according to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the rational part of their brains, or the “executive” portion, isn't fully developed until the age of 25. This makes poor judgement a problem young people struggle with all around the world.
The adult brain operates under different chemical influences than the teenage brain, and grownups consider long term consequences. The teenage brain runs mainly on emotion. Instead of thinking with their minds, teens tend to often think with their hearts, experts say. They go through their day focusing more on their feelings than their rational ideas.
According to research and studies done by Dr. David Walsh, an American psychologist, teenagers are more sensitive to dopamine, a neurotransmitter compound that makes people feel happy, and teens' supply of dopamine creates a rush for them that adults don't feel.
New, risky, or exciting experiences cause high releases of dopamine. This is what tends to make teenagers feel more alive and engage in activities classified under ‘bad behavior.” When an activity seems like it would get adrenaline flowing, teens take part in it because they’re more focused on the way it'll make them feel than what possible consequences they could be risking.
This behavior also ties in with peer approval. Often times, teenagers take part in crazier stunts when they are with their friends verses when they're alone. The science behind this is that dopamine is a reward chemical. When teens do things to make friends laugh, think they’re cool, or just to make their jaws drop, it releases more dopamine than participating in the same stunts when a teen is alone.
Drugs also cause high releases of dopamine. Teenagers can try a drug once because they crave peer approval and attention, and instantly get hooked. Teens become addicted more easily because of their dopamine-craving sensations.
Dopamine is a drug and almost all teenagers are addicted. The teenage brain is geared in a way that can create trouble, but there are other factors that also feed into bad behavior. Life events shape a person into who they are. According to experts, hurtful, abusive, and neglectful situations can make kids act out as the get older.
Childhood memories and the way children are raised have huge impacts on the person they become. There's no exact science behind all bad behavior because there are a lot of situations that can factor into the way teens act, but brain development is certainly a large factor of this issue.