On the outside, teen-agers appear to be nearly grown up. But inside the skull, a vital part of their brain is closer to a child's than an adult's. New findings in neuroscience and pediatric psychiatry link brain immaturity to teens making foolish judgments and reckless decisions.
Some teens have sex too soon.
Some experiment with drugs and alcohol. Some see how far their car will fly on a hilly road. But now scientists have made a connection. The old belief was that by the time a child reached the age of puberty and pimples, his brain's hardware was completely connected. But by using magnetic resonance imaging, researchers got pictures that helped prove that the brain has a good deal of developing to do well beyond the start of adolescence.