Teenage Brains

Something that surprised me the most in this radio interview about the teenage brain was how adolescents have a higher risk of substance addiction compared to adults (Jensen & Gross, 2015). Substances are more toxic and permanent on teenage brains than adult brains (Jensen & Gross, 2015). Originally, I thought that adults would get addicted faster because they often resort to caffeine to wake up, cigarettes to manage hassles, and other medications to relieve depression and stress (Berk, 2009). On the other hand, adolescents are able to snap out of substances faster since they are in the experimenting stage for a shorter duration. Compared to adults, they are done with their experimenting stage and have been exposed to these substances longer and are able to decide if they want to continue doing substances, which would lead to addiction faster. However, what I thought was not true according to this interview. This interview expanded my knowledge about teenage brains compared to adult brains.
Another interesting fact about the teenage brain is that binge drinking could kill brain cells to the point of permanent brain damage in adolescents’ brain and is less
In order to reduce the experimentation with substances and alcohol, parents could be effective and monitor their adolescents’ activity, educate ways to resist peer pressure, and highlighting health risks (Berk, 2009). These ways will potentially help adolescents because they have an imaginary audience, where they believe that they are the center of everyones’ attention (Berk, 2009). Therefore, adolescents will do everything they can to avoid embarrassment and will resort to peer pressure. The prevention and treatment strategies will help these adolescents become more aware and potentially avoid peer pressure with substance abuse and