The Teenage Brain: A neuroscientist’s survival guide to raising adolescents and young adults. Frances Jensen E.

       Copyright

      This book is designed to give information on various medical conditions, treatments, and procedures for your personal knowledge and to help you be a more informed consumer of medical and health services. It is not intended to be complete or exhaustive, nor is it a substitute for the advice of your doctor. You should seek medical care promptly for any specific medical condition or problem you may have. All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book as of the date published. The authors and the publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained herein.

      HarperThorsons

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublisher 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in the US by HarperCollinsPublishers 2015 The edition published by HarperThorsons 2015

      Designed by Jo Anne Metsch

      © Frances E. Jensen with Amy Ellis Nutt 2015

      The authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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      Source ISBN: 9780007448319

      Ebook Edition © December 2014 ISBN: 9780007448326 Version: 2014-12-15

       This book is dedicated to my two sons, Andrew and Will. Watching them grow into young men as they emerged through their teen years has been the joy of my life, and shepherding them through this time was probably the most important job of my life. Together we went on a journey, and as much as I taught them, they taught me. The product is this book, and I hope that it informs not only those people helping to raise adolescents, but also the teenagers themselves.

      When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.

      —MARK TWAIN

      I would that there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest, for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting …

      —THE WINTER’S TALE, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

       Epigraph

       List of Illustrations

      Introduction: Being Teen

      1 Entering the Teen Years

2 Building a Brain

3 Under the Microscope

4 Learning: A Job for the Teen Brain

       5 Sleep

       6 Taking Risks

       7 Tobacco

       8 Alcohol

       9 Pot

       10 Hard-Core Drugs

       11 Stress

       12 Mental Illness

       13 The Digital Invasion of the Teenage Brain

       14 Gender Matters

       15 Sports and Concussions

       16 Crime and Punishment

       17 Beyond Adolescence: It’s Not Over Yet

       Postscript: Final Thoughts

       Glossary

       Notes

       Selected Bibliography

       Resources

       List of Seacrhable Terms

       Acknowledgements

       About the Authors

       Also by Amy Ellis Nutt

       About the Publisher

       Illustrations

FIG. 1	The Basics of Brain Structure (Brain images courtesy of and with permission from John Detre, MD, and Paul Yushkevich, PhD, University of Pennsylvania).
FIG. 2	The “Homunculus” (Artwork by Mary A. Leonard, Biomedical Art and Design, University of Pennsylvania. Brain image courtesy of and with permission from John Detre, MD, and Paul Yushkevich, PhD, University of Pennsylvania).
FIG. 3	The Lobes of the Brain (Created by the author, artwork adapted by Mary A. Leonard, Biomedical Art and Design, University of Pennsylvania. Brain image courtesy of and with permission from John Detre, MD, and Paul Yushkevich, PhD, University of Pennsylvania).
FIG. 4	Maturing Brain: The Brain “Connects” from Back to Front (A, C: Reprinted from N. Gogtay et al., “Dynamic Mapping of Human Cortical Development During Childhood Through Early Adulthood,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 21 [May 25, 2004], 8174–79, copyright 2004 National Academy of Sciences,