Evidence implication: A few episodes of binge drinking to a state of drunkenness, or non-dependent recreational drinking, during teenage years permanently alters cognitive functioning and emotional regulation.

If you know a teen, share this information with them.

You remember what it was like to be a teenager (if you aren’t currently one now) – there’s nothing anyone older can say to you that isn’t heard through a very skeptical filter. Things have to make sense.

Teen years are when we begin asserting our ability to challenge expectations and authority, as part of an ambitious expansion of the self. It’s when we sharpen the beginnings of who we are to our liking in preparation for life in this world.

So when someone older tells us their reasons for making conservative choices, and why we should follow them, we narrow our our eyes and think “They don’t get to control me, especially when they probably do the very thing they’re telling me not to.”

Moralizing at teens does not work. But telling them the truth about things can.

Jump to article –

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170118082434.htm