Teens are hardwired to give parents grief

There’s a promising new frontier in forecasting in which scientists aspire to a better understanding of how forces in space cause events, such as geomagnetic storms that sometimes interfere with power grids and GPS systems on earth.

In other words, they’re going to study space weather.

It all sounds really cool and science-y and extremely challenging. Now if only we could come up with a means of forecasting teenage weather.

Not to rain on the ambitions of NASA scientists, but forecasting weather in space sounds like a much simpler proposition than trying to predict which mood a teenager might be in at any given moment. Geomagnetic storms? They’re nothing next to a teen in the midst of an emotional typhoon. You want to talk about changeable conditions and disrupted power grids? Teenagers excel at those.

Fortunately, when it comes to those irrational, out-of-control teenage behaviors that have tortured parents for generations on end, science is also now giving us some very solid, well-researched answers. Teenagers, it turns out, aren’t inexplicable after all — at least not completely. For what science is showing us is that in many ways, teens are hardwired by nature to give their parents grief.

The study of teenage brains has gained momentum in recent years, and is increasingly providing us with some very interesting and highly relatable insights into why teenagers act the way they do. Much of what has been found so far supports the conclusion that teens aren’t just products of genetics and environment, and they don’t act out, ignore us, or forget to take out the trash because they’re inherently selfish, lazy, stupid, or mean.

Rather, they are driven by powerful physical and chemical developments that in most cases sort themselves out with the passage of time.

Scientists have long known that different parts of the brain mature at varying rates. The prefrontal cortex, often referred to as the executive control center of the brain, isn’t fully developed until about the mid-twenties. This is the region that helps create self-awareness, judgment, empathy, emotional stability, and motivation. It helps us plan for the future and evaluate risk, both immediate and long-term.

Meanwhile, other parts of the brain that are linked to fear, pleasure, and aggression develop more quickly. But there’s not enough input from that underdeveloped prefrontal cortex to keep the impulses originating in those other areas in check.

This uneven pattern of brain development also means that teenagers are deficient in many key attributes that we consider critical features of maturity, including the capacity to calm ourselves when under real or perceived threat; assess risk and respond in a reasoned manner; keep emotions under control, and cope with anxiety.

It also helps explain why some adolescents self-medicate with drugs and alcohol; why a first heartbreak cuts so deeply; why many teens say incredibly hurtful things to their parents and others, and why some kids won’t get off their tushes to clean their rooms or write their college essays.

Meanwhile, teens also undergo profound changes in brain chemistry.

For example, adolescents produce less serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps modulate mood and impulse control as well as anxiety and arousal. Melatonin, the chemical related to sleep patterns, is also out of synch in teens.

What’s more, levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine is lower in teenagers than adults. Dopamine is linked to the way we experience pleasure and pain. Because adolescents produce less of it, experts believe, they are more prone to mood swings and might be encouraged toward risk-taking behavior and intense experiences that produce spikes in the release of dopamine.

It also might not be a coincidence that all these physical and chemical forces are at play inside of our teens at the very moment when they are facing the prospect of momentous changes in their lives. While we parents understandably worry about whether our kids will be mature enough for college life or other challenges that lie ahead, the very fact that teens have immature brains might actually be one of the factors helping to propel them out of the nest.

Surely such reasoning strikes a chord with some parents who find their teens’ junior and senior years of high school to be a stressful exercise in balancing the desire to keep some control over these big, only partially self-reliant kids with the excruciating process of letting go. As we lovingly attempt to assess our children’s readiness and help them prepare to fly the coop, the teenagers are undergoing a parallel, but very different process that invokes for them strong feelings of both fear and excitement.

In many households, this tension can be a recipe for continual clashes and angst at a time when important decisions must be made. The smiles in those senior portraits likely often mask a world of confusion, anticipation, and uncertainty.

Which is why the continuing study of teenagers’ brains is so crucial. Like the prediction of weather in space, the additional knowledge won’t necessarily change the outcome. Teens will still have meltdowns, and storms will still wreck havoc on the landscape. But it certainly will help us to understand, prepare, and be more equipped to react when the forces of nature threaten to consume us.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.