By: Alex Chu
Teens are ignoring their moms when they’re out doing things with their friends. If you’re a teen, then you know what I am taking about! There is research that supports these trends in teenage behavior.
Scientists have shown that when kids are young, they are more willing to listen to their parents. However, when they are teens, they completely change. Teenagers rather turn to their friends for advice and conversation instead of their mothers. “Adolescents have this whole other class of sounds and voices that they need to tune into,” explains Daniel Abrams.
Researchers scanned the brains of 7-to-16-year-olds as they listened to things said by their mothers or by unfamiliar women. The words that the teenagers were made to listen to included: teebudieshawlt, keebudieshawlt and peebudieshawlt. Using such nonsense words allowed the scientists to study voices on their own, not the meaning of what was being said. As the kids listened, certain parts of their brains became active. This was especially true in brain regions that help us to detect rewards and pay attention. This shift in what voice piques interest most seems to happen between ages 13 and 14. That’s when teenagers are in the midst of puberty, a formative transition into adulthood.
While both teens and their parents may sometimes feel frustrated by mixed messages, that’s okay, Abrams says. “This is the way the brain is wired, and there’s a good reason for it.”