Did You Know.. That A Brain Area Might Hold the Key To Teen Conflicts?!

I was searching the web and came across this website that had a lot of helpful information on my topic. The website showed that there was a recent study that was done, revealing that an area of the brain may be a reason why teens conflict with their parents. "some teens seem to seek out conflict with their parents more than others" (Dan Childs, ABC News Medical Unit). A new Research draws a link between teens' arguments with their parents and the size of their amygdala (a specific brain structure linked to emotions. Researchers believe the amygdala "may hold the key to how aggressive teens act toward their parents" (Childs).

This area of the brain is heavily involved in emotional responses and is linked to the "fight-or-flight" behaviors that typify our bodies responses to emergency situations (Childs). A research done at the University of Melbourne's Orygen Research Center in Australia reports that the areas of the brain may have a special link when it comes to teens who regularly fight with their parents. After participating in a problem-solving task that was designed to create conflict, 137 teens underwent a MRI brain scan to measure the the size of their amygdala. They found that the larger the amygdala, the more likely the kids were to fight with their parents.

"one of the things we found in our study was the children whose amygdala were larger were more likely to spend a longer amount of time being aggressive or angry with their parents during an interaction, so there was a relation to the size of the amygdala and how angry or aggressive the child was during the interaction" (Nick Allen, associate professor at the University of Melbourne's School of Behavioral Science).

But the findings are already being debated among child development experts. Some are concerned that the research could lead to a conclusion that it is the large amygdala of aggressive teens that necessarily fuels conflict, when a number of biological and social factors may be to blame.

"The problem with this kind of research is that it is correlational and only demonstrates an association. Even though not explicitly said, the underlying tendency is to assume this means causation -- in other words, that the structural changes cause aggression" (Merritt Schreiber, UCLA National Center for Child Traumatic Stress). "It says nothing about cause at all or interaction among factors leading to the results, which is likely extremely complex. I'm not even certain there is much agreement as to what the size of the amygdala indicates, or how good the data is on normal amygdala size in adolescence" (Daniel Kupper, assistant clinical professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA).

Still, some child development experts say that the findings make sense, given what's already known about the amygdala. "Amygdala over function creates a propensity to overreact to ... stressors and difficulty in disengaging in conflicts. Like firefighters rushing into a burning building while the rest run out, teens with biologically based over reactivity tend to be attracted to conflict, exacerbate out of it, and not be able to think their way out of it. Parents can learn to understand their children's violent behavior as a symptom of an underlying dysfunction rather than a sign of poor character or an indictment of bad parenting" (Kendall Johnson, a clinician in private practice in California and author of the books "Trauma in the Lives of Children" and "Dealing with Classroom Crisis").

"Focusing too much on the size of one particular brain structure -- and not enough on a multitude of other biological and social factors -- would be tantamount to ignoring 40 years of research on other factors that could contribute to teen aggression. These factors include parenting practices and media influences" (Schreiber).

"Ignoring these parts findings could misdirect parents in dealing with their teens' problems with aggression. More and more malfunction is being attributed to ill-understood deviations in morphology and physiology. This may have one possible benefit -- to reduce parents' feelings of self-blame. But until we know a lot more, I think thees are by far outweighed by the dangers in 'labeling' these adolescents as abnormal and doomed to conflict. We have so much established knowledge of the tremendous significance of family function, environmental pressures and education on these behaviors that I choose to stay with these explanations" (Dr. Barbara Korsch, professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California).

Childs, Dan. "Rebellious Teen? A Brain Area May Hold the Key." 02 25 2008 20 May 2008