For many parents, the biggest question may well be: How do I understand my teenager?
Dr. Jean Clinton says explaining teenaged behaviour isn’t nearly as philosophically deep as searching for the meaning of life.
Clinton will offer some answers and bust some myths in her presentation The Teen Brain: Under Construction at the Caboto Club on Thursday at 7 p.m.
It’s the latest free seminar in the Mental Health Series presented by the Essex County District School Board’s parents’ involvement committee.
“The challenging behaviours we see have nothing to do with surging hormones,” Clinton said. “It’s the brain undergoing significant changes. Kids are developing their brains.
“It happens at different times for different individuals.”
Clinton, an associate clinical professor in McMaster University’s department of psychiatry and neurosciences, has built a reputation as one of Canada’s foremost authorities on children’s mental health and bullying.
Clinton said the good news for parents is there’s much they can do to shape whether the teenaged experience is pleasant or painful.
“We can be coaches helping them through this or behavioural intimidators,” Clinton said. “How I think affects how I act. It’s all in relationship.
“If you’re thinking, ‘I’m just going to get through these years,’ then the negative is going to overshadow the positive.
“Environment matters hugely.”
And well-meaning parents can be just as destructive as non-attentive ones.
“The interaction between parents and kids has changed,” said Clinton, noting it’s not that unusual for university professors to get calls from parents asking for academic upgrades so their child can get into medical school.
“Helicopter parents (hovering) or snowplow parents (clearing the way) create a sense of entitlement.
“Kids don’t experience failure in the same way. It’s not so much about the failure, but it’s the examination of what went wrong that’s important.
“If kids don’t do that, they don’t develop the full circuitry in their brain they need to figure things out.”
As for the age-old parental question: Why didn’t you think before acting?
Clinton said the irony is that’s exactly what has happened.
“The research has shown the part of the brain seeking pleasure develops ahead of the part that controls risky or impulsive behaviour,” Clinton said.
“The pleasure-seeking part of the brain is saying it’s going to be so good nothing bad is going to happen.”
She said this hyper-rational (behaviour) is most challenging for parents.
Clinton said experiences and the environment literally have the power to sculpt the development of the brain.
Technology, video games and smart phone usage are creating a generation seeking fast fixes.
“Our ability to figure out challenging issues is diminishing,” Clinton said. “They’re less attentive and focused and it’s more of a challenge for them to analyze.”
The speed of life created by the digital age, along with dwindling face-to-face communication, is another challenge for modern teens.
“I’m really concerned about the lack of face-to-face time that’s developed over the past five to 10 years because of social media,” Clinton said. “It’s affecting their ability to problem-solve and resolve conflict.
“Layer on the added pressures of drugs and alcohol being more available, more intense pressure for grades and social media, it’s a lot of bloody stress.”
The result has been a dramatic increase in mental health issues among teenagers.
“Anxiety has become huge,” Clinton said. “The number of visits to emergency rooms by kids has gone up significantly from a mental health perspective. The cutting behaviour (self harming) among girls has doubled in the last five years.
“These kids are canaries in the mineshaft for society.”
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