Adolescent Brains Are Wired to Want Status and Respect: That’s an Opportunity for Teachers and Parents

The Connecting Adolescent Brain

This fact sheet gives an overview of adolescent brain development and explains how access to resources, opportunities, and meaningful relationships during adolescence can build connections within our brains and with the world around us that support us into adulthood.

Brain development during adolescence is fundamentally a story of connections.

Around age 9 or 10, hormonal changes kick off a period of intense learning and development, when brain cells form, strengthen, and streamline connections in response to our experiences more rapidly than in any period of life after early childhood.

Activity increases especially in the brain networks that propel us to explore the world, learn from our mistakes, and connect with others in new ways. In turn, these new experiences prompt our brain cells to connect with other neurons in ways that help us adapt to new events and new information. These neural connections become stronger the more we use them, while unused connections are pruned away, helping the brain become more efficient at acquiring and mastering new skills and new ways of thinking.

This brain-building learning happens through direct experiences in our environments and interactive, responsive relationships—with our families and peers, in our classrooms and neighborhoods, in community activities, and even online. The resources, opportunities, and experiences we as adults provide in and out of school can help young people’s brains build the extensive networks of connections that will manage the complex knowledge and behaviors needed to navigate adulthood.

Learning by Exploring the World Around Us

One of the networks that changes significantly with the increase in hormones and dopamine at the beginning of puberty is the “reward system” in our brain. Heightened activity in this system increases the feeling of reward we get from exploring the world, taking risks, and learning from the results.

Meanwhile, the network of brain regions that make up the “social brain” also changes during adolescence. These changes help us tune into social and emotional cues, like facial expressions or social rejection and approval, and increase our desire to earn respect and contribute to others. It also enables us to learn the nuances of changing social contexts in ways that help prepare us for adult relationships.

The prefrontal cortex (the region of the brain that orchestrates critical thinking and behavioral control) undergoes its most rapid period of development during adolescence. It builds on many other systems within the brain to manage our responses to the flood of new information and intensifying emotions. Engaging with other people and our environment and learning from our successes and our mistakes, known as “action-based learning,” helps shape the prefrontal cortex by strengthening the connections within it and between it and other brain networks. We learn through repeated practice—which includes trying and sometimes failing—what is adaptive and appropriate in different situations and how to guide our behavior accordingly, in ways that equip us to pursue new forward-looking goals.

When adults provide youth with opportunities to try new things, to practice navigating emotions, and to learn from failures along the way, it helps build the brain connections that we all need to grow into healthy, thriving adults.

Policies, Experiences, and Mindsets Shape the Connecting Brain

Although we can continue to learn new skills and behaviors as adults, the adaptability of the brain during adolescence means that these connections are much more likely to form quickly in response to experiences. The extent of these changes make the adolescent years a critical window when investments in the right policies and programs for youth can shape long-term positive development.

Likewise, this makes the adolescent years a time when negative experiences including racism, other forms of discrimination, poverty, or abuse can create steeper hills for young people to climb toward a healthy adulthood. When adults ensure that all young people, especially those who have experienced earlier adversity, have what they need along their journey, they can build the skills and capacities they need to thrive as adults. This includes opportunities to explore and take healthy risks, to connect with and contribute to those around us, to make decisions and learn from the outcomes, to develop a healthy sense of identity, and to rely on support from parents or other caring adults.

Understanding how and why the brain develops during adolescence lets us provide the support young people need to build healthy connections—in their world and within their brains—that will help our youth and our communities thrive.

Adolescents Learn Essential Skills for Adulthood through Exploration, Discovery, and Taking Healthy Risks

This fact sheet reviews research that explains why adolescents are more motivated to take risks, why that’s important to learning and development, and how policies and practices could support healthy risk taking to promote positive development.

When policies and programs support adolescents to explore their world and take positive risks, it leads to healthier, more connected communities.

Being able and willing to take risks and try new things is a part of our natural tendency to explore the world during adolescence. It’s a fundamental aspect of learning that helps us develop our skills, discover who we are, and ultimately expand our worlds beyond the familiarity of home.

Research on adolescent brain development helps explain why we’re more motivated to approach things that feel uncertain or scary during these years, and why these risks are so important to learning and development. It also provides insights into how policies and practices could recognize this drive for new and exciting experiences and provide opportunities for healthy versions of risk taking that can support positive development.

Brain development during adolescence encourages exploration. The increase in hormones at the beginning of puberty launches changes in the “reward center” of our brain. Heightened activity in this area of our brain during adolescence, compared to early in childhood or adulthood, makes us more sensitive to the rewards and good feelings that come from surprises and new experiences. This increases our motivation to explore the world, take risks, and learn from the results.

This enthusiasm to try new things is important: new experiences cause new neural connections to form and, with repeated use, strengthen within our brain. When we have opportunities to safely try new things and to learn from mistakes along the way, we build connections that support learning.

Exploration and risk taking are an important part of healthy development during adolescence. Research has shown that adolescents are more willing than adults to lean into uncertainty and explore situations in which there is a potential for a reward (in whatever form) but the outcome is not assured, and this exploration can lead to a more positive mood.

This tolerance for ambiguous outcomes is essential to learning and development during adolescence. Anything that runs the risk of failure or rejection—like attempting to learn a new skill, running for student government, trying out for a team or school play, asking someone out, or standing up for a friend—can feel uncertain or even scary, especially during adolescence when most of us are trying these things in new ways or for the first time. Adult support can help young people to take on new challenges, even those that seem intimidating.

Racism and other forms of discrimination curtail opportunities for healthy risk taking. Unfortunately, opportunities to learn from exploration and risk taking are not equally available to all of us during adolescence. A history of racial and economic inequities has led to fewer resources for organized activities in schools and neighborhoods with higher populations of youth of color.

Racism and bias, such as Black and other ethnic minority youth sometimes being perceived as more adult-like than their same-aged White peers, often result in harsher consequences (such as suspension, expulsion, arrest, or incarceration) for mistakes that might be labeled “learning experiences” when made by White adolescents.

Adolescents need healthy outlets to channel their motivation to take risks. Although not all adolescents are comfortable with risks, our reward system during these years is generally more excited by risks than at other times in our lives. Without healthy outlets, the attraction of risk and novelty can make us more vulnerable to unhealthy behaviors, such as reckless driving or drug and alcohol misuse.

Avenues to channel this motivation for new experiences into positive exploration include:

In schools, evidence suggests that while negative risk taking is related to less school engagement, positive risk is related to greater school engagement. Education researchers are increasingly emphasizing the importance of taking risks in schoolwork, with some evidence that youth who are willing to take on more challenging coursework without knowing how they’ll do are more goal-oriented and have more positive attitudes about science.
Running for a leadership position or joining a volunteer program are positive activities that research consistently suggests are related to positive youth development such as feeling a sense of purpose or overall life satisfaction.
Adventure-recreation programs for adolescents featuring activities like whitewater rafting, backpacking, and rock climbing have been shown to increase self-efficacy and a stronger sense of identity,^, and may offer a positive outlet for risk taking.
Research suggests that youth activism programs can promote social skills and global awareness. Youth engaged in civic activism may benefit from additional adult support, as these activities can also involve some amount of risk for adolescents, particularly for those advocating for racial justice.

Policies and programs can provide outlets for healthy risk-taking to support the developmental need to explore during these years and direct the desire for new experiences toward positive activities such as trying a new sport, engaging in activism, or making new friends.

➢ Secondary schools and college admissions processes should encourage adolescents to take academic risks. For example, high schools could provide broad access to advanced classes and new subjects for all interested students—and college admissions offices could value attempts at challenging coursework that may result in lower letter grades.

➢ Identify and counter racism and other forms of discrimination that ultimately result in young people from different backgrounds facing disparate consequences for taking risks. Recognize that racism and bias can cause adults to perceive Black and other minority youth as more adult-like than their same-aged White peers.

➢ Fund and support an array of opportunities for youth to try new activities at school, at home, in the community, and in the digital world.

When Adolescents Contribute to Others it Supports their Well-Being and Their Communities

Fact sheet | Education | Community Engagement | Out-of-School Time

This fact sheet explains how opportunities to contribute to others can build our autonomy, agency, and identity and can support our sense of purpose during adolescence.

Adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity and growth. In the years between ages 10 and 25, changes in our brains and social environments increase both our ability to contribute to others and the positive feelings we get from kind and helpful behaviors toward others.

When policies and programs support adolescents to find ways to contribute and cultivate their sense of purpose, it leads to healthier, more connected communities.

Adolescence is an important time for contributing to others. During the developmental period between childhood and adulthood, we forge our sense of who we are and how we want to contribute to the world. Throughout our adolescent years, our physical, cognitive, and emotional capabilities mature in ways that allow us to contribute to our friends, family, schools, and broader community in deeper, more meaningful ways than when we were younger.

Opportunities to not only contribute, but to reflect on the meaning of our contributions and to have our contributions recognized, build our autonomy, agency, and identity and can support our sense of purpose—the forward-looking feeling that our lives are directed and significant. All of these are important to positive development during adolescence, helping us navigate adversity and achieve goals throughout adulthood.

Research on adolescent development helps explain how opportunities to contribute to others support well-being.

Brain development during adolescence supports our ability and motivation to contribute to others. The network of areas in our brain that activates in social interactions matures rapidly during our adolescent years, deepening our understanding of the complex feelings, perspectives, and needs of other people. We become better able to determine who needs our help and what kind of help they might need. In addition, brain regions associated with our sensitivity to rewards become more reactive during and after puberty, increasing the positive feelings we get from novel experiences as well as kind and helpful behaviors, such as contributing to others. Connections between these regions also improve during adolescence.

Our social environments—including families and peers—can motivate us to contribute to others. Socially, we become more motivated to find a valued place and role among our peers. Contributing is one way to feel valued: studies have shown that students who are helpful, cooperative, and sharing tend to be more appreciated and liked than those who use fear or intimidation to gain status. Young people from families and communities where contributing is a particular value seem to feel more of a sense of reward when helping.^,

The right support can help young people who have been marginalized. Being marginalized as a result of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religion can also motivate adolescents toward a sense of purpose to help others in their families, schools, or communities through activism or civic engagement. Family engagement, adult role models, connections through religious or other community groups, and support to process our experiences can all help young people cultivate a positive sense of purpose.

Learn more about the cultivation of meaning and purpose during adolescence in the National Scientific Council on Adolescence’s Report 3: Cultivating Purpose in Adolescence.

Contributing to others provides adolescents the experiences they need to succeed as adults. Supporting friends and family builds the intimacy we need to form positive, long-lasting relationships in adulthood. Seeing that our actions can have a positive effect on the world can help us build a sense of autonomy, agency, and identity. Contributing to others also supports a sense of meaning and purpose, which are associated with greater emotional well-being, academic success, and resilience, all of which can be powerful assets as we navigate adversity and achieve goals throughout adulthood.

The opportunity to reflect on the experience of volunteering might be essential to ensuring positive developmental impacts from the activity. Reflecting on service we perform during our adolescent years—which can take place through journaling, art, essay writing, or group discussion—can help us consider the broader impacts of our contribution and attach meaning to the experience.

➢ Provide opportunities for young people to make meaningful contributions to their social groups and communities. Programs that support youth to contribute can have positive effects on their mental and physical health, support their academic success, and give them opportunities to explore ways they can be a force for good in our society, now and in the future.

➢ Policies and programs should address inequities in adolescents’ opportunities to make meaningful contributions in their everyday lives by ensuring that all young people have a range of options to contribute and to have their contributions recognized.

➢ Families are typically the first context where youth can contribute to others through common household chores such as cooking or taking care of siblings. Youth from many lower-income, ethnic-minority, and immigrant families play significant instrumental roles in their families, and the value of these contributions and the skills they require should be recognized by colleges and employers.

➢ While helping family is a type of contribution that can benefit youth, time-intensive caregiving can sometimes be a source of stress that negatively impacts mental health. Schools can support caregiving youth by offering flexibility in course schedules, awarding community service hours for their caregiving, and educating teachers and counselors about the experience of these youth. Learn more about how to support caregiving youth here.

➢ Involving middle and high school students in decision making around classroom and school policies like seating arrangements, learning activities, or grading practices has been shown to increase students’ motivation and connection to the school community.