Aggression as a result of intellect development

We often notice that teens are too irritable and even aggressive from time to time. Some say that is the effect of poor breeding and parents’ inattentiveness towards their children. The researches have shown that it’s not quite so.

A study made by scientists of Australia and the United States has found that aggression in some teenage boys may be linked to overly large amygdalas, one of the regions in the brain involved in emotion and other functions. Scientists also suppose that these boys may also be not able to control their emotions because other parts of the brain that normally control strong emotions don't mature till the early 20s.

It is important for parents to keep in mind that while their teenage child looks like an adult and does very complicated work at school, parts of their brain are still developing. The process is going on in fact until the 20s. We are talking about those parts of the brain that are supposed to help the child control his own emotions and behavior.

In the study, 137 12-year-old boys and their parents were asked to discuss touchy issues, such as homework, bed times and Internet times; and the boys had their brains scanned later. It was noticed that boys who had large amygdalas spent more time behaving in an aggressive way, referring to a part of the brain located deep within medial temporal lobes that is believed to be involved with emotional responses, including arousal and fear. These boys appeared to have prefrontal cortexes as well, a region of the brain that has to do with regulating emotions.

So we can see that teenage aggression is deeply connected with boy’s mental development, which can be a good sign for the parents. But on the other hand the more intellect they have, the less control we have over their behavior.