Understanding teens, and sorting myth from reality, is a challenge for both adults and teens themselves. So check out this quiz and update your knowledge on the latest findings.
1. Which of the following is not true:
The adolescent brain leads teens to:
- Explore
- Seek out the good in life
- Feel things passionately
- Seek novelty
- Process information rapidly
- Need their parents less and be less affected by parents’ disapproval
- All of the above
Though teens have gotten a bad rap, the adolescent brain has enviable features that give them unique potential for optimism, vitality, innovation, and positive change. Peers may seem to be all that matters to them and are, in fact, a key ingredient in helping teens forge their own identity. But, in spite of appearances to the contrary, adolescents still need their parents’ availability, guidance, and support, delivered in a way that respects teens’ opinions and autonomy. The challenge for parents is to tolerate, and not take it personally, when teens pull away, and refrain from withdrawing in retaliation in the guise of giving them space.
[For more of this story, written by Lynn Margolies, go to http://psychcentral.com/lib/a-...might-still-believe/]
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