No one ever said that parenting a teenager would be easy. Have you ever felt like your teen stopped being “present” while you were talking to him or her? There is a reason for that, especially if you were complaining at the time. A study found that teen’s brains actually “shut down” when the teen hears criticism that comes from his or her mother.
Many parents have wondered about what goes on in the brains of their teenagers. A group of researchers attempted to find out. The group of researchers were from the Universities of Pittsburgh, California-Berkeley, and Harvard. The study was led by Kyung Hua Lee.
The study involved 32 healthy pre-teens and teenagers. The average age of the group was 14. A total of 22 of the teens were female. Each teen had a brain scan done while he or she was listening to two 30-second clips of their own mother criticizing them. The teens also listened to their mothers talk about boring things like grocery shopping.
What showed up in the brain activities of the teens was interesting. Their brains showed more activity in areas involved in negative emotions while they were listening to their mothers criticize them. Those negative emotions lingered for a period of time after the criticism had stopped.
In addition, the teens that were being criticized by their mothers also showed reduced brain activity in areas involved in emotional control. Reduced brain activity also was found in the areas of the brain that involved the ability to take in other people’s points of view. In short, the teen’s brains “shut down” their ability to do social processing as a result of being criticized by their mothers. The teen being “yelled at” was temporarily unable to think about their mother’s mental states.
The study did not check to see what happens in teen’s brains while they were being criticized by their own fathers. Maybe someday that part of the study will be done. Or, perhaps we are supposed to extrapolate from the study involving the mothers that the same result would occur when the teen’s fathers criticized them? That part is unclear.
The thing for parents to take from this is that yes, your teen probably did “shut down” shortly after you started yelling at them. He or she cannot help it. This pattern is something neurological that appears to be a normal part of how the teenage brain works. It may be frustrating to watch your teen “tune out” when you are angry with them. Keep in mind that your teenager’s body, and brain, are still in the process of developing.
Image by Hey Paul Studios on Flickr.
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