The Behavioral Neuroscience of Adolescence

by Linda Spear

Overview

Understanding the role of brain changes in adolescent behavior and development.

Linda Spear provides a detailed and illuminating overview of the genetic, hormonal, and neurological developments that take place during adolescence, and shows how these changes, along with influential sociocultural factors, interact to produce distinctly adolescent behaviors and thought processes. The tension between taking risks, impulsivity, and self-control—a struggle evinced by many adolescents, especially those in therapeutic treatment—is also examined for its sources within the brain. The result is a fascinating overview of the adolescent brain, with profound implications for the clinical treatment of adolescents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393705423
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/30/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Linda Spear, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University, SUNY. She lives in Binghamton, New York.

Editorial Reviews

"I recommend this book for both neuroscientists and parents. Dr. Spear has written a masterly, insightful, and scholarly work covering a broad range of complex topics including genetics and epigenetics, neuroanatomy, synaptic cell biology, adolescent psychology, and how they all drive adolescent maturation."

Fulton T. Crews

"[R]efreshing and comprehensive….an excellent resource for any professional who works with adolescents."

ASAP Newsletter - Gregory Barclay

"Spear’s thorough and remarkably accessible synthesis of recent research on the neuroscience of adolescence lays to rest any misguided notion that adolescence is little more than a social construction. Not only is this the best book ever written on the biological bases of adolescence, it is one of the most important books written about this stage of development, period. Every serious student of adolescence, whether a neuroscientist or not, must read this book."

Laurence Steinberg

"Dr. Spear brilliantly captures the complexity of adolescent and, likewise, the complexity of studying adolescence. Her work underscores the many levels of analysis needed to understand the adolescent brain, the respective degree of error in measurement at each of these levels, and how simplistic theories of adolescent brain development cannot adequately capture this developmental period."

BJ Casey

"[A] very detailed and well-written introduction to the growth and functioning of the brain and its relation to adolescent thought and behavior."

PsycCRITIQUES