Adolescence is the age between the start of puberty and adulthood. In developed countries, this life period usually begins at around thirteen years and goes up to the early twenties. At this time, many teenagers begin to assert their independence and forming deep relationships outside the confines of their families. It is a period when the body undergoes a lot of changes, both physically and emotionally. For many teenagers, it is a period of trying out new experiences and taking risks. During adolescence, teenagers often have issues with identity, independence, academics, sexuality, gender, and friendship. Most teenagers have an egocentric perspective on life, and they focus on themselves while believing that every other person is also focused on them. They often struggle with insecurity and judgment and focus appearance as an essential element at this time. At this stage of life, teenagers often do a lot of crazy things. They drive without a license, and they go out partying in loud and noisy places, they smoke marijuana right before the eyes of cops. They also binge on alcohol, try out drugs, insult their parents and guardians, they lie to adults, including their parents, engage in risky sexual behaviors. They often think that adults are the worst ( Blakemore, 2018) . This paper examines the biological, psychological, and social changes that occur during teenagehood, and how these changes influence how teenagers behave as compared to adults.
Psychological Changes
Many parents often blame peer pressure and individualism when teenagers act crazy. However, studies suggest that some of these behaviors have psychological ties to them. Laboratory mappings of the brain highlight that the average teenager’s brain is somewhat different from that of an adult. The most significant difference lies in the prefrontal cortex, which is a section of the brain that affects reasoning ( American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016) . Another difference lies in the brain cell networks that connect the cortex parts of the brain that are more about emotions and less about thinking and reasoning. Using tools such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and positron Emission Tomography (PET), scientists have examined the teenage brain and found that, on average, until a person gets to their mid-20s, their prefrontal cortex experiences rapid changes ( US Department of Education., 2018 ) . These changes also happen in the chemical connections and cell endings that link the cortex regions of the brain that affect gut impulses.
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When individuals are about 15 years, many cells in the cortex region die off, and others are developed, forming new connections between them. Many of the essential cognitive abilities such as self-consciousness, abstract thinking, and reasoning rapidly grow during the teenage years. Brain connections do not branch out fully until the mid-20s, and factors such as impulse control and emotional regulation normally plateau during this period. When adolescents are with their peers, the reward circuitry in the brain becomes more activated, and this impels them to seek out more pleasurable things ( American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016) . During the teenage years, individuals start mating, and from an evolutionary standpoint, it becomes adaptive to do it outside families and with people closer to their age. The circuits, which include dopamine, which contains neurons within the prefrontal cortex and deep within the brain cells such as the amygdala, provide hormonal jolts that may cause teens to involve in some risky behaviors. For instance, racing a bike to a crash may not win them a girlfriend, but in case they survive, they impress their peers.
According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2016), teenagers are more susceptible to praise, feedback, and rejection, and so often they do what other peers want them to do rather than what they may think is rational. It is their reactive and sensitive amygdala that causes teens to feel strongly about things than adults and makes it difficult for them to live in their skins. During adolescence, all functions of the brain are severely complicated. Still, the amygdala plays a primary role in controlling emotions, and this explains why most teens become aggressive, fearful, and depressed more than adults.
Physical Biological Changes
As they enter adolescence, many teens go through many physical changes, not only in shape but also in the size of their bodies. These changes may include growth of underarm and pubic hair, breast development, growth of beards and chest hair, developed hips and shoulders, and an increase in weight and height. For girls, it may mark the start of menstruation, and for boys, it may mean the development of the testes. For girls, these physical changes may begin anywhere from the age of 11, and for boys, they may occur at the age of about 13 years ( US Department of Education, 2018 ) . During this time, the physical characteristics of many adolescents vary among their friends, and this creates a lot of tension and frustrations typically for teenagers who may not be growing like their peers. Teenage years often bring about numerous concerns about appearance and body image. Many teenagers who never gave much attention to their looks before may start spending hours worrying about them being too short, too fat, too pimply, or too skinny. Because body movements require coordination of different body parts, teenagers may sometimes be awkward and clumsy ( US Department of Education, 2018 ) .
With the development of their physical characteristics, many teenagers may start acting crazy. For example, a teenage girl who has development breasts and is all shapely may feel like an adult and may start comparing herself with other adults they have seen. They may think that they are old enough to go out for parties or engage in sexual activities. Naturally, these girls will catch the attention of teenage boys, and therefore they may want to show that they warrant their attention. Girls at this age may engage in alcohol consumption, and others may even try drugs. On the other hand, boys may start developing beards, chest hair, and Adam's apple, all of which may make them feel mature enough. They may begin hanging out in clubs, chasing after girls, smoking weed, and drinking alcohol ( US Department of Education, 2018 ) . Physical changes may make teenagers feel as if they have matured enough and may engage in risky sexual encounters without proper education.
Social Changes
Adolescence is a developmental stage in which teenagers build their social circles and develop interests. Many reckless behaviors that are perceived as crazy can be associated with peer influence. For example, a study showed that teens driving a simulated car drove reasonable when they were alone in the car. However, when a friend got into the car, they took far more risks while driving either because the friend egged them on or they just needed to show off ( Ludden, 2018) .
Furthermore, teenagers were found to take risks such as consuming alcohol or smoking weed when they were with their peers as compared to the time when they were alone. Such results indicate a correlation between risky behavior and social engagement ( Ludden, 2018) . Studies interestingly found that risk-taking in adolescence is not uniquely a human characteristic.
Mammal also displayed recklessness during the period between sexual maturation and initial sexual encounter. For example, a laboratory study on mice found that mice consumed more alcohol when they were with other mice compared to when they were placed alone ( Ludden, 2018) . Contrary to this, adult mice with prior sexual experiences moderated their alcohol intake, whether they were alone or with other mice. The results of this study showed that both humans and mice get encouraged by their peers to engage in more risky behaviors. However, peer influence is not the only factor that leads to aggression in teenagers ( Ludden, 2018) .
Teenagers are also concerned about what their peers think of them even when they are not in their company. For example, teenagers may want their peers to look at them as being 'cool.' They want to fit into the social circles and feel a great need for acceptance. Therefore, a teenage girl may start dressing skimpily and apply makeup despite hesitation from her parents so that she can be perceived as being cool by her peers in school.
Assimilation, Accommodation, and Equilibration
Jean Piaget’s (1936) theory of cognitive development argues that intelligence is not a fixed characteristic, but that cognitive development occurs due to biological maturation and interactions with one’s environment. He explained three concepts; assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. All these concepts can be examined to explain why teenagers sometimes behave crazily.
First off, assimilation is the developmental process of incorporating new knowledge into already existing schemas ( Zhiqing, 2015) . This process is, however, subjective because people tend to modify their information and experiences to fit in with their preexisting beliefs. In explaining aggression and behavioral issues in a teenager, we can use this concept. Teenagers have preexisting knowledge about the joy of freedom and independence. They associate these freedoms with adulthood. When they enter teenage years, they start believing that they are adults, and therefore they start doing things that adults would do, such as drinking and staying out late. When adults around them discourage these behaviors, they become aggressive and rebellious.
Accommodation involves altering or changing already existing information when we get new information. New schemas may also be formed during accommodation. For a teenager, accommodation changes the way they perceive the world ( Zhiqing, 2015) . For example, during childhood, children may view drinking or smoking as vices that they should not engage in. However, as they get into their teenage years, they see their peers engaging in these activities, and they admire them. They, therefore, change their initial perceptions and start experimenting with them.
Lastly, in equilibration, Piaget argued that children often try to balance between accommodation and assimilation. As children go through cognitive development, they begin to adjust between assimilation, which is applying previous knowledge and accommodation, which is a change in behavior to account for new ideas ( Zhiqing, 2015) . Teenagers always reach equilibration during their adolescent years. For example, they begin realizing that alcohol and drugs are a vice after experimenting with them. They recognize that their initial knowledge was correct. However, some may choose to stay away from these substances, while others may continue consuming them but hiding it from their parents because they realize that it is a mistake.
References
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (2016) . Teen Brain: Behavior, Problem Solving, and Decision Making . Retrieved 18 November 2019, from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/The-Teen-Brain-Behavior-Problem-Solving-and-Decision-Making-095.aspx
Blakemore, S. J. (2018). Avoiding social risk in adolescence. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 27 (2), 116-122. DOI: 10.1177/0963721417738144
Ludden, D. (2018). Why Your Teenager Does Such Crazy Things. Retrieved 18 November 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-apes/201805/why-your-teenager-does-such-crazy-things
US Department of Education. (2018). Changes -- Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence . Retrieved 18 November 2019, from https://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/part4.html
Zhiqing, Z. (2015). Assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration: A schema-based perspective on translation as a process and as a product. In the International Forum of Teaching and Studies (Vol. 11, No. 1/2, p. 84). American Scholars Press, Inc.
