UCLA CDA Co-Executive Director Andrew Fuligni and Policy and Practice Director Elise Brumbach explain how insights from developmental science could help schools promote attendance and engagement for middle and high school students.
Leveraging the Opportunity of Adolescence to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism
Leveraging the Opportunity of Adolescence to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism
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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.
Spring 2025 Research Roundup
Research Roundup | Community Engagement | Mental Health | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination
This roundup provides an overview of recent research into adolescent development, highlighting the role of family relationships, sleep, adverse childhood experiences, and neighborhood characteristics in brain development and mental health.
In this Research Roundup, we provide an overview of recent research about adolescent development that highlights the role of family relationships, sleep, adverse childhood experiences, and neighborhood characteristics in brain development and mental health.
Sign up to receive the quarterly research roundup in your inbox. You can suggest research articles for future roundups by emailing CDA@psych.ucla.edu.
Family relationships as protective factors
- Prosocial Behavior Toward Family Can Protect Against Mental Health Challenges in Adolescence (February 2025)
- Warm Parenting Relationships Throughout Adolescence Are Important for Emotional Regulation (January 2025)
The Importance of Sleep
- Sleep as a Protective Factor Against Substance Use for Youth Experiencing Discrimination (February 2025)
Environments and experiences
- Early Neglect or Abuse Changes the Way Adolescent Girls’ Brains Mature (November 2024)
- More Enriched Neighborhood Resources in Early Adolescence Can Support Mental Health (February 2025)
Family relationships as protective factors
Prosocial Behavior Toward Family Can Protect Against Mental Health Challenges in Adolescence
(Padilla-Walker et al., Journal of Adolescent Health, February 2025)
In this study, Laura Padilla-Walker and colleagues investigated the psychological benefits of prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior intended to help others) in a large sample of older adolescents. At the first time point (when participants were around 18 years old), participants rated their own prosocial behavior toward their family (“I really enjoy doing small favors for my family”), friends (“I voluntarily help my friends”), and strangers (“I help people I don’t know, even if it is not easy for me”). Approximately five years later (when participants were around 23 years old), the same participants completed surveys that assessed their self-esteem, depression, and suicide risk. They found that adolescents who reported greater prosocial behavior toward their family also demonstrated higher self-esteem five years later, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms and lower suicide risk. These results highlight how prosocial behaviors, particularly toward family, can protect against mental health challenges, potentially by raising self-esteem during the transition from adolescence into adulthood.
Why this is important: This work underscores the importance of familial relationships, even as adolescents transition into adulthood. Opportunities to contribute to their families may benefit adolescents’ self-esteem and, in doing so, improve their overall mental health.
Warm Parenting Relationships Throughout Adolescence Are Important for Emotional Regulation
(Her et al., Developmental Psychobiology, January 2025)
In this study, Helena Her and colleagues examined how parenting relates to heart rate variability, an indicator of nervous system functioning that connects to our ability to regulate our emotional responses, in a sample of adolescents in the US from Mexican families. The researchers focused on parental warmth, defined as loving, affectionate, supportive, and consistent parenting that is responsive to an adolescent’s needs. Adolescent participants reported on their parents’ warmth every two years from ages 10 to 16. When the participants were 17, researchers measured their heart rate variability, an index of activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports the ability to respond and adapt our emotions to the environment appropriately. The researchers found that, on average, youth reported that their parents’ warmth declined over time (between the ages of 10 and 16). However, young people who reported either increases or only slight decreases in their mothers’ warmth over time had higher heart rate variability at age 17, which may indicate an increased ability to respond to stress and regulate emotions. Together, these findings suggest that maintaining warm and supportive mother-adolescent relationships throughout adolescence may support youths’ abilities to regulate their emotions in positive ways.
Why this is important: This study suggests that maintaining affectionate, supportive, and consistent mother-adolescent relationships throughout adolescence may benefit nervous system functioning and emotional adjustment, even as youth may be becoming more independent and spending less time with their caregivers.
The Importance of Sleep
Sleep as a Protective Factor Against Substance Use for Youth Experiencing Discrimination
(Wang et al., Journal of Adolescent Health, February 2025)
Previous research has linked experiences of discrimination to heightened risk for substance use in adolescents. Drawing from prior work showcasing the psychological and social benefits of sleep, Yijie Wang and colleagues examined whether this risk might be lowered in adolescents who get more sleep. Using longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study*, they measured experiences of discrimination related to racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and weight in early adolescents (average age around 11 years old) from racially and ethnically diverse youth (including Black, Latine, multiracial, Asian American, and Native American youth). They also collected survey data on typical sleep patterns, Fitbit sleep data over three weeks, and participant self-reports on their intention to use alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in the future. Researchers found that more exposure to multiple forms of discrimination predicted higher intention of substance use, but only in adolescents who got less sleep on weekdays (less than 9 ½ hours when measured via self-report and less than 7 ½ hours when measured via Fitbit data). For adolescents who got more sleep on weekdays, discrimination did not significantly predict their intention to use alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in the future. This suggests that sleep may curb the negative effects of discrimination and lower risk for substance use in adolescents.
Why this is important: This study suggests that interventions aimed at increasing sleep duration may protect against starting substance use in adolescents who experience discrimination. Importantly, this study showcases these associations in younger adolescents without a history of substance use, suggesting that prevention efforts could be effective earlier in adolescence, before substance use behaviors become prevalent.
Environments and experiences
Early Neglect or Abuse Changes the Way Adolescent Girls’ Brains Mature
(Garrisi et al., Child Maltreatment, November 2024)
In this study, Kathryn Garrisi and colleagues examined the effects of different forms of childhood adversity on brain development in a sample of 9- to 17-year-old adolescent girls. The researchers measured participants’ history of adversity, including experiences of neglect (lack of emotional and material care by parents) and sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. In adolescents without a history of childhood adversity, the surface area in the brain decreased as they got older, in line with prior studies of how the brain typically matures during adolescence. However, in adolescents who experienced childhood neglect or abuse, these decreases in surface area were smaller, specifically within the frontoparietal regions of the brain that are associated with executive functioning and cognitive control. In adolescents who had experienced abuse, the surface area in their brain increased as they got older—the opposite of the pattern observed in adolescents without a history of abuse—specifically within temporal and parietal regions involved in perception and sensory processing. These findings suggest that childhood neglect and abuse both affect brain development during adolescence, but that the specific effects may differ depending on the type of adversity experienced.
Why this is important: Although decreasing surface area in the brain is typically observed during adolescence, these findings suggest that childhood abuse and neglect both alter this developmental process, which may mean that these young people need additional support and access to resources as they navigate their path toward adulthood. Given the rapid brain development that occurs during this developmental stage, these findings point to adolescence as a window when interventions to support youth who have experienced adversity may have an amplified impact.
More Enriched Neighborhood Resources in Early Adolescence Can Support Mental Health
(Harris et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, February 2025)
In this study, Julia Harris and colleagues examined how neighborhood characteristics relate to mental health during adolescence. Using data from 9- to 10-year-olds from the ABCD study*, the researchers found that greater neighborhood enrichment, characterized by aspects that promote healthy development such as proximity to high-quality child education centers, access to green space, and walkability, was associated with less impulsive behavior. Additionally, greater neighborhood enrichment was associated with fewer internalizing symptoms, including sadness, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Neighborhood enrichment was also related to greater reward-seeking behaviors, or the pursuit of new or thrilling experiences, specifically those related to the pursuit of desired goals. Although these reward-seeking behaviors have previously been linked to greater maladaptive risk-taking, the researchers speculated that this pattern may indicate that enriched neighborhoods, which have more green spaces and community centers, offer more opportunities for high-energy and goal-oriented activities, such as playing outside and spending time with peers, rather than specifically risky behaviors. Together, these findings point to the role of the neighborhood environment in mental health during adolescence.
Why this is important: This research highlights the importance of the neighborhood environment in adolescent development by showcasing a relationship between more enriching neighborhood resources and mental health. The patterns observed in this study suggest that access to built environmental factors including high-quality child education centers, green space, and walkability may promote healthy development during adolescence.
*The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is the largest ongoing study in the United States examining brain and health development from late childhood through adolescence. The study follows more than 11,000 children from 21 sites who started at age 9 to 10.
Real-World Practice Helps Adolescents Learn to Make Reasoned Decisions and Manage Emotions
Fact Sheet | Fact sheet | Education | Community Engagement | Mental Health | Out-of-School Time
This fact sheet highlights what research tells us about how youth build good decision-making skills and navigate challenging emotions, and highlights how adults can help in this process.
Adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity and growth. During these years, changes to the brain networks involved in processing emotions and guiding behavior—combined with the novelty of strong emotions like falling in love—can amplify the intensity of our emotions. This makes our middle and high school years a critical window to learn to navigate emotions.
Policies and programs that support adolescents to practice making decisions and regulating their emotions in real-world settings lead to healthier, more connected communities.
Learning to make good decisions and manage strong emotions in a positive way are fundamental skills to learn in our adolescent years. Fortunately, we’re developmentally primed to tackle these areas of learning during this period.
Throughout adolescence, our cognitive and emotional abilities mature in ways that help us more deeply consider the needs and perspectives of others, think abstractly, and analyze more complex issues compared to when we’re younger. These changes prepare us to develop the skills we need to make good decisions and navigate our emotions. And like every skill, we need opportunities to practice in real-world situations and to make and learn from mistakes.
Research on adolescent development highlights the ways that youth build the necessary skills to make good decisions and navigate challenging emotions and how adults can help.
Some of the most significant changes to the brain during adolescence affect the networks involved in processing emotions and guiding behavior. The amygdala—the part of the brain involved in processing and recognizing emotion—is highly sensitive to social cues during adolescence, helping us adapt to the nuances of social contexts in ways that help prepare us for the complexities of the adult world. This increased sensitivity, combined with the fact that we’re having many intense experiences for the first time (like falling in love or going through a breakup), contribute to emotions that can be more intensely expressed compared to adults.
Our heightened sensitivity to emotions associated with peer acceptance or rejection can influence our decision making during adolescence. On the one hand, we’re more likely to make risky decisions when we’re in situations that are emotionally charged, particularly in the presence of peers, which can sometimes be unhealthy. On the other hand, our friends can also motivate us to do good and to make prosocial choices—choices intended to benefit others—like sticking up for a friend.
Development during adolescence also increases our capability to navigate emotions, plan for the future to achieve a goal, and solve problems. Throughout adolescence, we build the cognitive and emotional abilities to consider the needs and perspectives of others and to assess complex issues. Given the time and space to deliberately weigh different options, many adolescents are capable of reasoning as well as adults when making decisions.
We build our emotional regulation and decision-making skills through real-world opportunities to practice and to learn from the outcomes. Experiences such as finding healthy ways to cope with disappointment and making choices about personal aspects of our lives help us learn how to respond during emotional situations and make smart decisions.
Programs and interventions that help us build emotion-regulation skills and reduce impulsive decision making can support us during this dynamic window of growth and learning. Learning to recognize emotions and adapt emotional responses in a way that is appropriate to the situation can be an important step in promoting healthy decision making.
➢ As adolescents build their decision-making skills, supportive adults should provide them with opportunities for increasing agency in decisions that impact their lives. This increased agency can occur in the many contexts of adolescents’ lives—at home with family, in school, at extracurricular activities, and in the community.
➢ When provided with the relevant information and time to consider the options, young people have the ability to make rational, well-reasoned decisions about their well-being. Adults who support adolescents faced with particularly consequential decisions, such as social workers, attorneys, and health care providers, should ensure young people have the time and information necessary to weigh their options.
➢ The natural inclination to evaluate and learn during adolescence makes it an ideal time to engage young people as partners in policy and program development and evaluation. When done well, youth engagement provides adolescents with skills and opportunities that align with the unique developmental needs of this stage of life.