How Teenagers’ Lack of Sleep is Taking a Toll on Their Mental Health

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.

Thumbnail Image for March 2024 Research Roundup

Spring 2024 Research Roundup

This issue provides an overview of research showcasing the protective role of positive lifestyle factors for mental health, the benefits of continuing contribution, an effective intervention to support positive racial-ethnic identity exploration, synchronized brain activity between parents and youth, and the importance of timing in parental support.

In this issue of our quarterly Research Roundup, we provide an overview of some recent research showcasing the protective role of positive lifestyle factors for mental health, the benefits of continuing contribution, an effective intervention to support positive racial-ethnic identity exploration, synchronized brain activity between parents and youth, and the importance of timing in parental support.

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.

Lifestyle factors counteract the neurodevelopmental impact of genetic risk for accelerated brain aging in adolescence (March 2024)
The contribution of community service during the transition to adulthood to health in adulthood (February 2024)
Parental involvement affects parent-adolescents brain-to-brain synchrony when experiencing different emotions together: An EEG-based hyperscanning study (February 2024)
Teachers’ implementation of the Identity Project is associated with increases in U.S. high school students’ ethnic-racial identity exploration (February 2024)
Responsive parental support buffers the link between chronic stress and cardiometabolic risk among adolescents (February 2024)

Lifestyle factors counteract the neurodevelopmental impact of genetic risk for accelerated brain aging in adolescence

A recent study led by Raluca Petrican and colleagues investigated the interplay between positive lifestyle factors (friendships, parental warmth, school engagement, physical exercise, and healthy nutrition) and genetic risk for major depressive disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Analyzing data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (a long-term study of brain development and youth health), the researchers found that genetic risk for disorders such as anxiety and depression increased the risk for mental health problems, while positive lifestyle factors decreased the risk for mental health problems later in adolescence. Both genetic vulnerability and positive lifestyle factors were associated with altered development of brain regions involved in cognitive control, emotion regulation, and attention later in adolescence. Importantly, the changes in brain development linked to positive lifestyle factors reduced the risk for psychiatric disorders—especially among adolescents who had experienced high levels of adversity (Biological Psychiatry, March 2024).

Why this is important: This study highlights the protective role of positive experiences on brain and emotional development in adolescence. It suggests that programs that enhance positive lifestyle factors (such as by improving school connectedness) could help protect against stressors and promote mental health, even among young people who have a genetic risk for psychiatric disorders.

The contribution of community service during the transition to adulthood to health in adulthood

In this study, Laura Wray-Lake and colleagues examined changes in community service engagement from adolescence into adulthood (ages 18 to 30) and the impact on adult health outcomes. The researchers analyzed data from over 10,000 participants from a range of high school graduation years (from 1976 to 2000). They tracked changes in participants’ levels of community service from ages 18 to 30, then looked at behavioral, physical, and psychological health outcomes at ages 35 and 40. The results revealed significant associations between community service involvement and adult health outcomes such that adolescents who continued engaging in community service in the transition from adolescence to adulthood reported lower substance use, healthier behaviors, and higher psychological well-being later in life (Journal of Research on Adolescence, February 2024).

Why this is important: This study shows the importance to health and well-being of promoting and supporting civic engagement opportunities as young people transition into adulthood.

Parental involvement affects parent-adolescents brain-to-brain synchrony when experiencing different emotions together: An EEG-based hyperscanning study

In this study, Xinmei Deng and colleagues used a technique called electroencephalograph (EEG) hyperscanning to examine the brain functions underlying shared parent-adolescent experiences by simultaneously recording brain activity in 26 parent-adolescent pairs as they rated their feelings about several 10-second film clips.

They found that in pairs of parents and youth with high parental involvement (where parents show interest, caring, and warmth) there was greater synchronization in brain activity–that is, their brains were responding in similar ways at the same time–when they shared positive emotions. This kind of synchronization between parents and youth is believed to support adolescent social-emotional development, and is based on the strong emotional bonding and connection between the family members. In this context, it suggests that strong bonds with parents can enhance the way parents and adolescents connect emotionally—even on a brain level (Behavioral Brain Research, February 2024).

Why this is important: This study shows one way that parental involvement impacts the dynamics between parents and young people, highlighting the importance of fostering supportive, caring parent-adolescent relationships over the teenage years.

Teachers’ implementation of the Identity Project is associated with increases in U.S. high school students’ ethnic-racial identity exploration

The Identity Project is an eight-session, school-based intervention that provides high school students with strategies and tools to learn about, explore, and reflect on ethnic-racial identity (ERI). The program has been shown to increase in ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution in ways that support higher self-esteem, lower depressive symptoms, and better grades, among other positive outcomes, when delivered by researchers. In this study, Adriana Umaña-Taylor and her team sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Identity Project when delivered by teachers themselves. In a group of 180 high school students from diverse backgrounds, the teacher-led Identity Project intervention increased ERI exploration over the course of the program. Further, the positive effects remained when accounting for factors such as ethnic-racial socialization within the family, student and teacher ethnic-racial identity, gender, immigrant status, and ethno-racial background, suggesting that this intervention is effective across diverse adolescent populations (Journal of Youth and Adolescence, February 2024)

Why this is important: These findings demonstrate that teachers, who are uniquely positioned to impact students, can be trained to effectively implement the Identity Project to help youth develop a positive ethnic-racial identity, which is essential to healthy social and emotional development during the adolescent years.

Responsive parental support buffers the link between chronic stress and cardiometabolic risk among adolescents

Exposure to chronic stress from experiences including poverty, bullying, and family turmoil during adolescence can impact mental and physical health–particularly in cardiometabolic issues such type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke in adulthood. In a new study, Phoebe Lam and colleagues investigated a potential protective factor in the association between stress and health in adolescence: the nature and timing of parental support. Using data from 242 adolescents, the researchers found that youth who experienced higher levels of psychological stress over the past 6 months also showed higher levels of cardiometabolic risk (inflammation). Timely parental support—that is, an increase in support such as advice, comfort, and listening received on stressful days—acted as a buffer against the detrimental effects of stress on heart-related health. When adolescents received support from their parents on days when they experienced stress, the link between chronic stress and cardiovascular risk was weakened. Chronic stress was only linked with cardiovascular risk when youth did not receive support in response to days when they experienced stress. (Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, February 2024)

Why this is important: These findings highlight the importance of parental support provided at the time of stressful experiences to prevent the negative physical effects of stress during adolescence. This makes it clear that youth need support from their parents that is attuned to their experiences.

Adolescents Need Supportive Environments Where They Can Develop Values, Goals, and A Positive Sense of Identity

Fact sheet | Education | Community Engagement | Out-of-School Time | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination

This fact sheet shares research about adolescent development that helps explain why adolescence is such an important window for building a sense of identity and how adults can support the process.

Policies and programs that support adolescents to explore and discover their values, goals, and a positive sense of identity lead to healthier, more connected communities.

Adolescence is an important period for exploring who we are, what we value, and who we want to be. Over the course of our adolescent years, we are developing a more integrated, stable sense of our identity that we carry with us into adulthood.

Healthy development in adolescence involves creating a positive sense of self and belonging based on our values and aspirations. This process can be challenging for youth facing racism, sexism, or other forms of bias and discrimination, which too often cause young people to be defined by others in ways that are grounded in negative or otherwise limiting stereotypes.

Research into development helps explain why adolescence is such an important window for building a sense of identity and how adults can support the process.

As our cognitive abilities mature, we’re able to think in more complex, abstract ways that help us engage in self-reflection on a deeper level. Regions in our brain associated with perspective taking, decision making, self-regulation, and values become more active when we’re evaluating ourselves in relation to others, especially in social contexts. In addition, we become more sensitive to social stimuli, increasing the effects of feedback from our family, peers, communities, and media on shaping our identity.

Our sense of identity is more than just who we are—it also affects what we do. Throughout adolescence, our sense of identity increasingly influences the decisions we make. Research suggests that we value behaviors more when they fit with our sense of identity. For example, if we feel strongly about our identity as a good student, we may choose to skip a party the night before a big test.

Healthy development involves creating a positive sense of self and belonging that includes our sense of racial, ethnic, and gender identity. Positive feelings about our racial and ethnic identity are associated with psychological well-being and even serve as a buffer against external stressors. For youth of color, positive identity formation supports emotional adjustment, academic outcomes, and health. For sexual minority youth, a positive sense of identity is protective against depression and makes LGBTQ+ youth more likely to form supportive friendships with other sexual minority youth.,

Our increased motivation to explore and take risks during adolescence allows us to try out different interests, “selves,” and roles within our peer groups, families, and community. Inequities resulting from poverty as well as discrimination within systems and by adult “gatekeepers” can limit opportunities to safely explore and reduce options related to school and work.

During adolescence, we need agency to explore our place in the world, to set our own goals, and to determine how we want to be seen. We also need leeway to change these over time. The challenge for youth from historically stigmatized groups is that often they are being defined by others in ways that are grounded in negative stereotypes.

➢ Create equitable opportunities for youth to explore roles and activities that can help them determine what they value and who they want to become. These could occur throughout the contexts in which youth engage every day, such as at home with family, in the community, at vocational and career training programs, on sports teams, and in school or extended learning programs. Learn more about one example of an afterschool program that focuses on boosting leadership skills and embracing cultural identity, Youth Empowerment Solutions.

➢ Ensure access to images and messages that affirm and support pride in racial, gender, or other identities and provide space for young people to explore their identities.

A review of programs that focus on Black adolescent identity exploration found that these programs are not only developing youths’ positive sense of identity, they also can promote positive developmental outcomes, such as by improving parent-child relationships and reducing negative risk taking.
Research suggests that supportive school climates—those that have Gay-Straight Alliances, health curricula for LGBTQ+ youth, anti-bullying policies, and staff trainings on creating a LGBTQ+-supportive environment—are strongly associated with LGBTQ+ youths’ well-being. Additional research is needed to help us understand how we can create strong programs that support and affirm adolescents’ sexual and gender identity.

➢ Develop opportunities for young people to forge identities as group or community members. Substantial research has connected extracurricular activities with positive youth development by contributing to young people’s sense of identity as a member of a group or community.