Experts from the University of Melbourne drew their findings from an experiment involving 137 adolescents, aged 11-14, all of whom were monitored during "problem-solving interactions" with their parents, with the subjects being issues such as bedtime, cell phone use, Internet use, homework, and other typical concerns between parents and teenagers.
Interactions were analyzed, taking into consideration episodes that showed anger, contempt, belligerence, anxiety, being "happy", and being "caring", as reported by the Press Association.
Findings of the study revealed that the amygdala, a part of the brain responsible for emotional responses, showed up more developed in the teenagers who eventually got into fights with their parents during the interactions.
"Their emotions are developing much aster than are the parts of the brain that help them to manage those emotions," lead researcher Nicholas Allen told the AFP in a phone interview.
According to Allen, the findings may prove comforting to parents who suspect abnormalities in their angst-ridden children. Allen said that this attitude would later be resolved, as how teenagers usually mellow down, by the mid-20s, when the brain has fully developed.
He added that other factors that may influence teenage behavior included parent-child interaction qualities, the teenager's own values, and home environment.
"What we don't know anything about is, is there an affect about the more normal variations in the family environment on the way the brain develops," said Allen.
"We're not sure if the environment is affecting the biology or the biology is affecting the environment," he continued. "Probably the most likely truth is they both affect each other."
The results of the study appeared in an issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
