The Development Of Emotional Intelligence In Adolescence

The stereotypical teen engages in high-risk behavior, misinterprets social cues, and is reactive instead of proactive.

 

This stereotype does not exist without reason. It is rooted in how the brain remodels itself during puberty and throughout adolescence. 

What is brain remodeling? 

It is a process in which unnecessary brain cells are eliminated and brain cells needed to live and function strengthen their connections with other cells. While remodeling occurs from the ages of 6 to 25, the process begins speeding up when you hit puberty, reaching peak speeds between 13 and 15. 

In general, the brain remodels the limbic system, aka the emotional center, first and then moves on to the mesolimbic system, aka the reward center, and finally to the prefrontal cortex, aka the reasoning system. 

More precisely, the Limbic system is responsible for:

• facilitating memory storage and retrieval

• establishing your emotional state

• linking motivation with behavior

• regulating autonomic function

While the Mesolimbic system is a pathway lined with dopamine-producing neurons. In short, it’s responsible for telling your brain if it “likes” something and reinforcing positive feedback. When this part of the brain is being remodeled, more dopamine is being produced which is thought to lead to thrill-seeking behaviors. 

This is why pre-teens and young teens are often more ruled by their emotions than logical reasoning and are more susceptible to addiction. 

So how exactly does the brain remodeling strengthen connections with other cells and affect memory, emotion, motivation, and dopamine? 

Two processes called pruning and myelination. Pruning removes unnecessary communication pathways (synapses) between neurons. Pruning generally happens before and after puberty as the beginning and the end of the rapid portion of the brain remodeling process. 

Myelination is the process which actively affects tweens and teens the most. Myelination is essentially insulating the neurons to increase the speed of information flow so cells can communicate more effectively. 

As the speed of information to the brain increases, can make everything “feel big” and lead to overwhelming emotions a tween/teen is unequipped to handle. 

That is where our journals come in! We know that kids 10-14 are going through these big brain changes and they need your support to learn healthy emotional habits to set them up for future emotional success. By providing them a safe space to explore and work through on paper these new bigger emotions that are flooding their system before they discuss them with a trusted adult, you are preparing them to communicate their emotional needs calmly and effectively rather than suppressing or exploding with the emotions. 

If your kid is between the ages of 10-14, pick up a journal today to help them through their brain development.