UCLA CDA Co-Executive Directors, Adriana Galván and Andrew Fuligni, spoke with PBS NewsHour’s William Brangham about why sleep is so important to youth mental health.
How Teenagers’ Lack of Sleep is Taking a Toll on Their Mental Health
How Teenagers’ Lack of Sleep is Taking a Toll on Their Mental Health
Additional Resources
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.
Winter 2024 Research Roundup
Research Roundup | Community Engagement | Mental Health | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination
This roundup provides an overview of recent research about adolescent development that examined the importance of parents’ ethnic-racial identity, the benefits of a mindfulness intervention, the link between agency and sense of purpose, the association between brain development and resilience to stress, and the link between heart rate variability and mental health.
In this issue of our quarterly Research Roundup, we provide an overview of some recent research about adolescent development that examined the importance of parents’ ethnic-racial identity, the benefits of a mindfulness intervention, the link between agency and sense of purpose, the association between brain development and resilience to stress, and the link between heart rate variability and mental health.
You can suggest research articles for future roundups by emailing CDA@psych.ucla.edu or sign up to receive the quarterly research roundup in your inbox.
- Increasing resilience to stress over time is associated with myelination of prefrontal brain networks during adolescence (July 2024)
- The protective role of parents’ ethnic–racial identities for young adolescents facing ethnic-racial discrimination (November 2024)
- Examining The impact of heart-rate variability on emotion regulation in adolescence (December 2024)
- Mindfulness-based training effects on sleep and brain networks that support awareness of bodily sensations in healthy adolescents (August 2024)
- Factors that help adolescent increase their sense of purpose through self‐driven learning opportunities (November 2024)
Increasing resilience to stress over time is associated with myelination of prefrontal brain networks during adolescence
(Nature Communications, July 2024)
In this study, Meike Hettwer and colleagues examined whether resilience to adversity during adolescence relates to ongoing development of brain regions that support emotion regulation and cognitive control. In a longitudinal study of 141 adolescents ranging from 14 to 26 years old, the researchers measured mental health and environmental stressors (including dysfunctional family environments, significant adverse life events, and low socioeconomic status) at two timepoints, one to two years apart. The researchers quantified the extent to which each adolescent was susceptible or resilient to stress — that is, whether the youth demonstrated worse-than-expected or better-than-expected mental health given their stressful life experiences. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at each timepoint, they examined whether resilience to adversity related to myelination, the process by which a protective, insulating layer called myelin develops around neurons, allowing for efficient communication throughout networks in the brain.
The researchers found that adolescents who demonstrated increasing resilience to stress over time also exhibited greater myelination within the anterolateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that supports emotion regulation and cognitive control. Together, these findings suggest that efficient maturation of prefrontal networks helps adolescents effectively regulate their emotions and flexibly adapt to environmental stressors.
Why this matters: These findings suggest that myelination, a critical part of adolescent brain development, may promote resilience in the face of adversity during adolescence by enabling efficient functioning of still-developing emotion regulation networks. Interventions that help build resilience during adolescence, like strong social support, could contribute to these critical connections in the developing adolescent brain.
The protective role of parents’ ethnic–racial identities for young adolescents facing ethnic-racial discrimination
(American Psychologist, November 2024)
In this study, Juan del Toro and colleagues explored whether parents reduce the risk of early pubertal development in young adolescents who experience ethnic-racial discrimination. Using data from the ABCD study, the researchers analyzed survey data from 1,651 adolescent siblings (average age = 11.49 years) and their parents. Based on prior work demonstrating that chronic stress, including ethnic–racial discrimination, can accelerate biological aging, they tested whether adolescents who reported greater ethnic-racial discrimination also exhibited advanced pubertal development for their age. They found that adolescents who self-reported greater ethnic-racial discrimination than their siblings showed more advanced pubertal development. However, they also found that parents’ own ethnic-racial identities might play a protective role: The relationship between discrimination and pubertal maturation was weakened in households with parents who reported a greater sense of belonging and commitment to their ethnic-racial group. This suggests that parents’ own ethnic-racial identities can help confer resilience to the negative consequences of discrimination in adolescents.
Why this is important: This study showcases the powerful role that parents can play in promoting resilience in adolescents experiencing ethnic-racial discrimination.
The impact of heart-rate variability on emotion regulation in adolescence
(Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, December 2024)
Research has shown that higher heart rate variability is associated with an increased ability to respond adaptively to stress and effectively regulate emotions. To test this idea, Gillian Debra and colleagues examined whether the association between rumination (repetitive thinking about one’s problems) and negative emotions was reduced in adolescents with higher resting heart rate variability. In a sample of 235 adolescents (average age = 13.48 years), researchers measured adolescents’ heart rate variability while they watched a five-minute video depicting natural landscapes. Then, over fourteen days, participants received five smartphone surveys each day. In each survey, they rated their current negative emotions (sad, angry, anxious, uncertain, and stressed) and indicated how much they had been ruminating about their negative emotions. The researchers found that adolescents with higher heart rate variability showed less of a link between rumination and negative emotions.
Why this is important: This research demonstrates that higher heart rate variability may benefit adolescent mental health in everyday life and suggests that interventions focused on increasing heart rate variability could promote adolescent wellbeing.
Effects of mindfulness-based training on sleep and brain networks that support awareness of bodily sensations in healthy adolescents
(Frontiers in Psychology, August 2024)
In this study, Olga Tymofiyeva, Benjamin Sipes, and colleagues tested the efficacy of a mindfulness intervention in 14-to 18-year-old adolescents. A group of 100 adolescents were randomly assigned to an intervention group or waitlist-control group. Adolescents assigned to the Training for Awareness, Resilience, and Action (TARA) intervention completed a 12-week training program of remote, weekly sessions and at-home practice. During the training, participants learned about topics including stress responses and strategies to regulate emotions and practiced mindfulness techniques including breathing exercises, yoga sequences, and meditation. The researchers assessed brain connectivity, sleep, and emotional well-being before and after the program. Adolescents who completed the TARA intervention, but not those in the control group, reported significantly improved sleep following the program. The researchers also found that the intervention led to increased connectivity within brain networks that support interoception, or awareness of internal bodily sensations, which has been linked to positive mental health.
Why this is important: This research provides evidence that a remote mindfulness intervention may benefit adolescent wellbeing by improving sleep and modifying “interoceptive networks,” the brain circuitry that enables adolescents to tune in to the physical sensations within their own bodies and is related to emotional well-being.
Factors that help adolescents increase their sense of purpose through self‐driven learning opportunities
(Child Development, November 2024)
In this study, Kaylin Ratner and colleagues assessed whether adolescents who participated in a self-driven learning program experienced increases in their daily sense of purpose. During the program, 321 under-resourced adolescents between 14- and 19-year-olds explored a self-identified passion (e.g., software development, animal therapy, criminal justice) for about 10 weeks. Participants were provided with a stipend and were matched with a supportive adult to check in with during the program. For each day of the program, adolescents reported their daily sense of purpose (“How purposeful do you feel today?”), and researchers analyzed how each adolescent’s answer to this question changed over the course of the program. On average, adolescents in the program reported high and relatively stable senses of purpose over time. Adolescents who reported a greater sense of agency — measured by their self-reported motivation and ability to pursue and achieve personal goals — at baseline were more likely to experience increases in their sense of purpose. The authors suggest that interventions that increase one’s sense of agency could help adolescents benefit more from out-of-school opportunities.
Why this is important: These results suggest that increasing young people’s sense of agency during adolescence could provide youth with a greater sense of purpose and make out-of-school learning opportunities even more rewarding.
A Developmental Path to Policy and Programs
Science Spotlight | Education | Mental Health | Foster Care | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination | Juvenile Justice
This spotlight offers examples of policies and programs that take a research-informed, developmental approach to supporting adolescents.
Adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity, both for young people, who are learning and growing rapidly during these years, and for our broader society as we choose how to support young people on their path to adulthood. By aligning policies and programs with insights from developmental science, policymakers and youth-serving organizations can find ways to more effectively meet the distinct needs of adolescents and support youth to become healthy, thriving adults who can contribute to their families, communities, and the wider world.
In the last several decades, research on adolescent development has dramatically increased our understanding of how young people ages 10 to 25 develop psychologically, emotionally, and physically. Scientists with research expertise in neuroscience, psychology, biological sciences, sociology, education, and public health, among other disciplines, have contributed to our understanding of the core developmental needs of young people. Researchers, often in partnership with young people themselves, have also investigated how these needs might be met in settings that shape adolescents’ lives, such as school, home, the workplace, faith-based communities, and out-of-school activities. As a result of this work, we know more today than ever before about the types of experiences and relationships young people require during adolescence to advance toward healthy adulthood.
Understanding the developmental science of adolescence can help generate new ways of thinking about the challenges and opportunities our youth face and ultimately advance science-inspired solutions, systems, and support.
We offer below a few examples of policies and programs that draw inspiration from a developmental approach toward adolescence. In addition, the appendix included in the PDF highlights external clearinghouses that collect and assess evidence on existing programs and practices relevant to adolescents, which may be useful as you consider how to identify and support the core developmental needs of adolescents in your policy or program.
Young adult courts
Research suggests that young people ages 18 to 25 who have committed moderate criminal offenses experience worse life outcomes and higher rates of recidivism when they are formally processed in the criminal justice system–that is, when they proceed through a standard series of court appearances and resultant sanctions, such as time in detention. This suggests a misalignment between the treatment of these young people in the adult criminal system and their developmental needs and capacities as adolescents.
One approach that several jurisdictions in the United States have implemented in response to the needs of older adolescents is to establish “young adult courts.” For example, in partnership with developmental scientists from the University of California, Irvine, the Orange County Superior Court in California launched a pilot Young Adult Court in 2018. Young men ages 18 to 25 who proceed through the Young Adult Court receive intensive case management, supervision from officials who have received training regarding adolescent development and behavior, and resources to “strengthen their health and wellness, life skills and employment, housing, and education.”
Upon completion of a minimum 18-month, court-supervised program, a judge may dismiss or reduce a young person’s felony charge. Structured as a randomized controlled trial, the Young Adult Court in Orange County will allow researchers at the University of California, Irvine to investigate the relationship between participation in this court and young people’s short- and long-term outcomes across several areas, including health, behavior, education, and career.
Later school start times
In 2019, California passed legislation requiring non-rural middle and high schools to begin the school day no earlier than 8:00 and 8:30 a.m., respectively. During the legislative process, the bill’s author noted that this shift aligns with research about the importance of sleep during adolescence. Indeed, studies have shown that later school start times make a difference for young people. In 2016, the Seattle School District shifted its school start times from 7:50 to 8:45 a.m., and a before-and-after study found that rather than simply staying up later, students slept an average of 30+ minutes more at night. Other research links later school start times to improved moods, better class attendance, and fewer car crashes among 17- and 18-year-old drivers.
Extended foster care eligibility
The earliest design of the child welfare system in the United States responded to the needs of physically abused infants and toddlers and prioritized protection and caregiver permanency for young children. As a system, it was not aligned with the unique developmental needs of adolescents, who can increasingly exert agency in their own lives as they practice reasoned decision-making and who may look to a variety of supportive adults and peers to help build resilience and a positive sense of identity.
One notable example of adapting this youth-serving system to better align with our understanding of adolescent development is the series of major federal policy reforms in the last 25 years that noted and aimed to address the needs of older adolescents with foster care experience and paved the way for state-level action. In general, these reforms have expanded the opportunities for young people beyond the age of 18 to receive services and establish or deepen connections with supportive adults.
Today, in approximately 48 states, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, young people may elect to remain in extended foster care past the age of 18 and receive supportive resources. Although extended foster care services vary by jurisdiction, they might include a range of resources that align with the capacities and needs of older adolescents as they learn to navigate life choices related to healthcare, housing, education, and employment with appropriate support from caring adults.
Treatment Foster Care Oregon
The Treatment Foster Care Oregon program is a research-informed alternative to placing youth with severe emotional or behavioral disorders in residential group care settings. First developed in 1983, Treatment Foster Care Oregon today offers separate programs for (defined by TFCO as 7 to 11, which encompasses early adolescence) and adolescence (defined by TFCO as 12 to 17) that prioritize family settings and effective parenting over approximately nine months.
The program involves weekly meetings for foster parents that teach positive parenting strategies, crisis support and respite care for foster parents, one-to-one mentorship for youth with a young adult to promote social skill building, and family and individual therapy for caregivers and youth. The program’s design explicitly takes into account the unique developmental needs of middle childhood and adolescence. In fact, the program’s effectiveness seems to be related to the support it provides for some important developmental needs of the adolescent years, including by tapping into youths’ need to find a respected place among peers and to maintain secure relationships with supportive adults.
In randomized control trials, this program has been shown to cut in half the arrest rate of both boys and girls. In addition, girls in the Treatment Foster Care Program experienced half the rate of depressive symptoms, a third less drug use in their early to mid-20s, and about half as many teen pregnancies.
Strong African American Families Program
Strong African American Families (SAAF) is a family-centered program for rural, Black families designed to strengthen early adolescents’ relationships with their caregivers and prevent unhealthy risk taking. The University of Georgia’s Center for Family Research created the program expressly to apply key research insights about healthy adolescent development, including the importance of developing a positive sense of self and racial identity as well as maintaining relationships with supportive adults.
While participating in SAAF, youth ages 10 to 14 and their caregivers attend weekly program sessions over a seven-week period. Through interactive games, discussions, and role playing activities, youth work through topics such as setting goals, developing their sense of identity, understanding their values, and handling peer pressure. Parents complete separate sessions focused on developing communication skills and discussing ways to support their children’s development. Adolescents and their parents also attend joint sessions focused on working together, staying connected, and supporting youths’ goals.
The program reduced risky sexual behavior, substance use, and behavioral problems, and increased positive racial identity. In addition, a recent analysis suggests that SAAF participation may reduce negative mental health effects in adolescents caused by experiencing racial discrimination.
Partnering with young people to design California HOPE accounts
Young people have the ability to make well-reasoned decisions about their well-being when given the time and information to consider their options. Including young people in the design of policies and programs that impact their lives can benefit both adolescents and their communities.
The approach taken by the California HOPE for Children Trust Account Program (the “HOPE Program”) is one example of intentionally engaging young people in the earliest stages of policy development. In 2022, the California legislature created the HOPE Program to provide financial trust accounts for youth from low-income families who lost a parent or guardian due to COVID-19 and young people who have spent at least 18 months in the foster care system. The legislature required a Board to oversee the program, advised by a working group of subject matter experts. These groups recognized “that the HOPE program could not be designed without significant direction from a set of youth who were most likely to be beneficiaries of the program.”
As a result, the groups sought assistance to assemble a Youth Panel of Experts. These 12 young people ages 15 to 21 had experiences that mirrored the qualifying criteria for a HOPE account and were compensated for their participation in the HOPE Program’s design. The HOPE Program’s 2024 report to the state legislature outlines an implementation plan for the program and other critical administrative choices that reflect the contributions and collaboration of the Youth Panel of Experts. The report also outlines an ongoing role for the Youth Panel of Experts, who will provide insights into future public outreach and educational materials for young people eligible for the program and their families.