From the Counselling Suite

Adolescent Development – Puberty and Neurodevelopment

Adolescence, the transition period between childhood and adulthood, is often marked by rapid changes in a number of areas over a relatively short period of time. The sorts of changes that young people experience during adolescence include physical, neurodevelopmental, psychological, emotional, cognitive and social changes. There are also often increased external pressures on adolescents, including increased academic demands, part-time/casual jobs, social media and peer or family issues.

Perhaps the most obvious signs of the onset and progression of adolescence are the physical changes associated with puberty. Puberty occurs at different times and different rates for young people. Some young people may welcome these changes but in many cases, puberty can also be a time of increased self-consciousness and worry (i.e. young people may compare themselves to others and worry about why they are not developing at the same rate as others or do not look the same as others. They might ask themselves, “am I normal?”). Unfortunately, social media and the media in general may perpetuate self-consciousness in young people. For example, they may experience additional scrutiny through their own social media accounts and/or the perfect (usually airbrushed) images they see on these platforms may lead to unrealistic expectations about what they should look like. Sometimes young people may even be subjected to teasing or bullying because their physical development is not the same as their peers. The hormonal changes that occur during puberty, most notably for males the increase in testosterone levels, can also cause changes in mood, increased aggression as well as changes in sleeping and eating routines. So what can parents and teachers do to support young people through these physical changes?

Educate young people about what physical changes they can expect, normalise these changes and emphasise that these changes do not always take place at the same time for different people
Encourage young people to be mindful of respecting others who are going through puberty
If your child has difficulty speaking to parents, then ask them if they would like to speak to another trusted adult such as another family member, an older sibling, or a sports coach etc.
Teachers may provide explicit teaching of critical media literacy skills and about techniques like airbrushing and filtering of photographs
Expose young people to images of lots of different body types – not just the current ‘ideal’
Try to role model having a positive body image and refrain from making negative comments about your own bodies in front of young people
Provide lots of positive reinforcement to young people for prosocial behaviours and encourage a focus on inner values rather than external appearance
Place limits around the use of social media and educate young people about the risks associated with image sharing

Adolescents’ brains are still developing and are not like the brains of adults yet – they are still a work in progress. One of the main changes in neurodevelopment that occurs during adolescence is ‘pruning’, which refers to unused neural connections being lost, whilst frequently used connections are strengthened. This process starts from the back of the brain and works its way forward. The prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that is responsible higher order thinking, like forward planning, problem solving and considering the consequences of actions, is not fully developed yet. Adolescents are sometimes more likely to rely on part of the brain called the amygdala, which is associated with emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour, to make decisions and solve problems. This is why we tend to see more impulsive behaviour, risk taking, accidents, fights and misinterpretation of social cues amongst adolescents.

Having said that, do not underestimate adolescents’ brain power. They are more cognitively advanced than younger children, who tend to think in quite concrete, black and white terms. Adolescents are typically able to think logically (especially in low stress situations), they have developed their abilities to reason, they can engage in moral/ethical discussions and they have enhanced their abilities to think abstractly and critically. They can see beyond what is in front of them and think about what might be… Adolescents’ increased cognitive capacities can sometimes translate in to challenging parents/teachers boundaries. Taking in to account the cognitive gains that adolescents have made as well as the fact that adolescents’ brains are still developing, parents and teachers can support young people in the following ways:

Approach young people in an emotionally neutral manner. Role model the calmness that you wish to see in young people. This can help to de-escalate tense situations.
Wait until adolescents have calmed down before discussing incidents. They are not capable of thinking rationally when they are in a heightened emotional state.
Role model empathy and use “I wonder” statements (i.e. “I wonder if you’re feeling frustrated about what happened at school today and that’s why you snapped at your brother”) to help adolescents to develop their self-awareness and emotional literacy. Encourage them to stop, think and possibly remove themselves from situations that may elicit a reactive response.
Encourage students to reflect on their behaviour and how they could do things differently
Maintain firm, consistent boundaries, and clearly, calmly and matter-of-factly let adolescents know when rules have been broken and a consequence is needed. Try not to engage in debate surrounding broken rules as most often, this will only escalate the situation as you will be buying in to the young persons emotions.
Repeat and clarify instructions
Give adolescents your undivided attention when they open up to you. Do not dismiss them.
Ask adolescents for their opinions, listen to them, give them a voice, particularly when decisions will impact on them.
Talk to young people about different emotional regulation strategies

If you have any concerns about your child or would like some advice about how to support them through adolescence or pre-adolescence, then please do not hesitate to contact the school counselling service via email (counselling@bps.sa.edu.au).

Dr Lucinda Clifford

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST