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The Ins and Outs of Adolescent Brain Development

Why do teenagers act the way they do? Some of the reasons for common adolescent behaviors, such as risk-taking and making less-than-wise decisions sometimes, relate back to their brain development. The prefrontal cortex, which controls higher-order thinking abilities, is not fully developed until very late in adolescence. Understanding adolescent brain development and finding ways to help teens develop good decision-making skills are important ways that adults support healthy adolescent brain development. In this introduction to adolescent brain development, we will focus on the development (and under-development) of various parts of the brain, the ways this brain development affects behavior, and ways to support adolescents as they finish the crucial period of brain development.

In this session, you will learn about:
  • The prefrontal cortex and its role in decision-making
  • The timeline of typical adolescent brain development
  • Behaviors that indicate immature brain development in adolescents
  • Strategies adults can use to help adolescents make better decisions
Presenter:
Our presenter is Dr. Diane Bales, Associate Professor and Extension Human Development Specialist in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Georgia, and co-leader and content expert for Better Brains for Babies.

Audience:
This 60-minute webinar is intended for parents, grandparents, foster parents, professionals, and paraprofessionals who work with or care for adolescents, as well as professionals who support families with adolescents.

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The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs. The Foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. In 2020 and 2021, the Extension Foundation has awarded 85% of its direct funding back to the Cooperative Extension System, 100% of funds are used to support Cooperative Extension initiatives. 

This technology is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation. For more information, please visit extension.org. You can view the terms of useat extension.org/terms.

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