This morning I interviewed Dr. Robert Epstein, who I"ve blogged about before (and who commented on Ypulse) for the white paper I'm writing for New Paradigm. We got into a conversation about all of the recent brain research that basically argues that teen brains are different, or that the prefrontal cortex, which is also the "impulse control center," is under construction, which is allegedly why teens are impulsive, risk-taking, and quick to anger. Epstein says hogwash, not true -- he believes the brain scans being used in a lot of this research are being misinterpreted by researchers (and definitely by the media). He wrote an article for Scientific American Mind (.pdf) to debunk what he considers to be "The Myth of the Teen Brain."
I'm going to grossly over simplify his arguments (you should read the article), but in a nutshell, he believes that most of the brain changes that have been observed in teenagers are part of a continuum of changes that happen throughout our lives. He also believes the current research is "correlational" vs. "causal" and does not show that what is being observed in the brain scans causes the problems we see in teens -- it's just associated with certain behaviors and emotions.
The heart of his argument and big question is whether the brain causes turmoil or whether turmoil alters the brain? Epstein believes much of the turmoil is caused by how the culture treats teenagers. By creating a separate teen culture through our educational system (high school), marketing and entertainment (MTV, teen movies/TV, etc.), and now with technology where teens are literally in their own digital worlds as well as imposing endless rules and restrictions on teens (according to his research, they have twice as many rules as active marines), we have created teen turmoil. He says it doesn't exist in non-western cultures where teens are more integrated with adults and treated as such, and that it's this separate culture where peers simply take cues from each other that leads to such poor decision making and emotional "teen" angst.
Finally -- he thinks the reason this research is being so warmly embraced and accepted is because:
The drug companies have a strong incentive to convince public policymakers, researchers, media professionals and the general public that faulty brains underlie all our problems -- and, of course, that pharmaceuticals can fix those problems. Researchers, in turn, have a strong incentive to convince the public and various funding agencies that their research helps to “explain” important social phenomena.
I agree with the need to treat teens more like adults and that teens and adults need more contact with each other. I'm consistently impressed and amazed with the teens I get to interact with through my work. But the Ypulse in me still loves teen culture -- heck, we all do or it wouldn't be dominating our entire popular culture. It's hard for me to get down on John Hughes movies or Degrassi and blame this stuff for teen angst...And really, isn't it more of a reflection of teen life vs. creating it? If we abolished high school back in the 60s, there would be no "Breakfast Club" or "Fast Times." I would love to here what readers think of all this -- both the science and culture around being a teenager. I just have a hard time thinking that the time teens spend hanging out together without adults is completely worthless or all bad as is the culture that reflects this...
P.S. You can take Epstein's test to find out if you're really ready to be an adult...
Posted by anastasia
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Comments
"The Breakfast Club" is about how messed up five teenagers are from living with their parents.
The plot is an (unintended?) endorsement of boarding school.
Those five teenagers would be better off if they lived with each other.
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | May 18, 2007 11:58 AM
I can speak to the cultural side of the argument: different cultures treat teens differently, and you can see major differences in how teens behave in those cultures.
My favorite example is the difference in teen drinking behavior in societies with no or a very low drinking age (such as Belgium, where I grew up), vs. American culture, which does not allow teens to drink in the company of mature adults. Guess which culture has more problems with teen binge drinking?
European cultures do tend to integrate kids into society more seamlessly (another example: European parents are more likely to take young kids to restaurants or leave them home alone earlier), and European teens tend to be more mature in their behavior in many ways compared to American teens. To Anastasia's point, though, it's debatable as to which have more fun...
Posted by: Tonia Ries | May 18, 2007 1:11 PM
I agree with what you're saying where we should treat teens with a little more respect. It seems to me like the older generations are the ones having trouble with integrating younger people, since they view them as whippersnappers who need to get off their lawn.
Posted by: Dave | May 18, 2007 2:46 PM
Your blog is superb, but your ending reminded me, sadly, of an issue I discuss at length in my new book: When people are subjugated, they sometimes lose sight of their potential. That was certainly true for blacks and women for hundreds of years. I even quote a letter written by Queen Victoria in 1970 in which she says that feminists should get a "good whipping," that women are inherently "feeble," and that "God created men and women different." If you really think it's good for teens to be trapped in "teen culture" (that's culture???), then you don't see it for what it really is: a pathetic world, maintained by greedy corporations and created by adults who mistakenly think that teens are inherently incompetent. You're also overlooking the down side of this kind of thinking: 2 million attempted teen suicides every year, 5.5 million teens in therapy, 7 million teen binge drinkers, more than a million teens needing treatment every year for drug problems, etc. Which character, exactly, was happy in "The Breakfast Club"? See http://thecaseagainstadolescence.com.
Posted by: Dr. Robert Epstein | May 20, 2007 2:39 PM
Hi Dr. Epstein. Thanks for commenting. I respect your point of view and definitely think there is a lot of validity in what you argue, especially the need to treat teens as more competent young adults. But I think you tend to be a little black and white in your thinking as well. My point about the Breakfast club and other films, tv shows and other aspects of youth culture was just that some of it is not only great entertainment, but reminds us all what it's like to be a teenager in this culture, whether it "should" or "shouldn't" exist.
Also, I don't think it's fair to call it "a pathetic world, maintained by greedy corporations and created by adults who mistakenly think that teens are inherently incompetent." I know lots of people involved in teen media and marketing, who are passionate about teens, work collaboratively with them and want to create products and messaging that are high quality and authentic. Obviously many of these people read and advertise on Ypulse.
So while I get where your coming from, I think there are ways to integrate teens into the adult world (and vice versa) that would accomplish a lot of what you would like to see -- but that doesn't paint everyone participating in the current culture as "pathetic," "greedy," etc.
Posted by: Anastasia | May 20, 2007 4:11 PM
"I agree with the need to treat teens more like adults and that teens and adults need more contact with each other."
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Posted by: Victor Panlilio | May 21, 2007 3:21 AM
Dr. Robert Epstein-
RE "Queen Victoria in 1970."
The reign of Queen Vicoria was 1837–1901. Did you mean a different year or a different queen?
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | May 21, 2007 1:44 PM