Adolescents protagonists protagonists adolescents protagonists teenagers

2013/11/18 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Medikuntza
• Osasuna
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

In medical studies, the protagonists are usually adult men. In general, it is they who are the measure and according to them the measures are taken. However, depending on the scope, other protagonists are women, the elderly, children and rarely adolescents. That's why I've been surprised when in the same week I found three undesirable research about them, so they will be the protagonists of this column.

The first research was published on the web of the scientific journal Science. It is one of the characteristics of adolescence. There are wise, sensible, moderate adolescents, who foresee and value the consequences before acting. But most do not behave in this way, they usually abandon the dangers and tend to act decidedly. In principle they are like this.

Scientists, like philosophers, parents and teachers, have tried to understand the reason for this trend. Among the classical explanations is the lack of maturity of the brain, more specifically. However, this reason does not satisfy the experts: The editor of the scientific journal Science recalls that if this were so, children would be even more imprudent than adolescents. Not so, young people are more “crazy” than children and adults and ignore the observations of others.

This has been demonstrated in the experiment explained in Science. 83 6-29 year old volunteers were placed in front of a computer and all were given the same order: once a face appeared on the screen they had to press a button, except when the face had a threatening gesture. The teenagers clicked 15% more than the rest when they did not have to press the button and the boys more than the girls.

In parallel, the researchers received images of the volunteers' brains through magnetic resonance and saw that the difference was in an area related to the control of emotions and decisions (vmPFC). According to the researchers, the experiment has served to understand the behavior of adolescents.

The other two investigations have been published by the medical journal The Lancet. Both are prepared by order of the United Nations and both have as their theme the health of adolescents, but both have addressed the issue from very different perspectives.

The first refers to adolescents who “remain” pregnant in developing countries. According to him, two million girls under 15 years of age a year become mothers. In addition, they have looked at not only the numbers, but also the environment, and have not hidden the situation: these pregnancies are related to oppression, poverty and pressure.

The second study analyzes the social factors that influence the health of European youth. They have highlighted one above the other: unemployment.

In the end, adolescents have been protagonists of this pillar, but before, in two out of three investigations, they are also victims.

Published in the newspaper Berria.